NEAR announces new protocol to help developers create multi-chain dapps

The NEAR Foundation has launched a new protocol designed to simplify the development of decentralized applications across multiple blockchains.

NEAR Foundation, a non-profit organization based in Switzerland, has announced the mainnet release of Chain Signatures, a new protocol designed to simplify the development of decentralized applications across multiple distributed ledgers.

The protocol leverages a decentralized multi-party computation network, allowing NEAR (NEAR) accounts to “sign transactions on any blockchain protocol,” the foundation said in a blog post on Aug. 8. The development is expected to address issues related to fragmented liquidity within DeFi, reducing the need for multiple wallets, manual token bridging, and multiple transaction fees.

One protocol to connect all defi

NEAR co-founder Illia Polosukhin believes Chain Signatures will be a “game-changing innovation” that solves the problem of “fragmented liquidity in the decentralized finance space,” saying it will be a “single DeFi layer for all chains.” “There is no longer a need for dozens of wallets and addresses, manual bridging, and paying gas fees on every token,” he added.

The NEAR co-founder expects the solution to be adopted soon because it opens up “a completely new design space” for financial applications on web3, “benefiting degens as well as opening up new user bases.” The protocol is already used by a number of applications, including Sweat Wallet and the decentralized cryptocurrency exchange Defuse.

NEAR’s Chain Signatures network is powered by eight validators, with initial auditing performed by Kudelski Security, a Switzerland-based blockchain security firm.