DeFi moves in waves. Right now, all eyes are on Near protocol. I'll give you the rundown of what it is, and why it's blowing up.
Today I'll Cover:
Let's dive in!
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I think of DeFi kinda like surfing - you have to catch the ride wave and right it hard.Some waves in the past include:Summer 2021: SolanaDecember 2021: OHM forksJanuary: FTM when people were anticipating SOLIDLY.
Right now I feel like we're approaching a wave with Near Protocol. It has been in development for several years now. Why is there so much interest in it all of a sudden?Quick 80/20: It's a layer 1 proof of stake blockchain. It's fast and cheap. It achieves scalability through sharding. The founders are programming geniuses from Google / Microsoft. It's backed by a TON of venture capital funding (the most of any layer 1).
****1. Tons of funding. They just raised a recent round of $350m. There's a $800m developer ecosystem fund. And there's a ~$670m fund dedicated just to DeFi.Imagine if you're a developer. There are all these different ecosystems to choose from. Do you choose Ethereum, Binance Smart Chain, or Harmony? Near is attractive because they're giving so much money away in the form of grants. You don't have to mortgage your house to bootstrap things.
That's the flywheel
2. USN is coming. There's a demand now for more stablecoins, and Luna's $UST has benefitted. Near is set to announce their own version called $USN. $UST is in high demand because Anchor protocol offers 19.5% APY yield. That yield rate is set to lower soon because it's unsustainable.The rumors are that USN may offer around 20%.So if Anchor Protocol lowers their rate, and then USN can be offered at around 20%, you can expect more money to head over to the Near ecosystem.3. A lot of Firepower From Venture Capitalists. Here are some of the investors in Near: FTX ventures, Dragonfly Capital, 3 Arrows Capital, Electric Capital, Jump, etc. Nearly every single A list Venture Capital firm is invested in Near.
This means Near has every resource it wants at its disposal.