NEAR Protocol Collaborates with Polygon Labs
NEAR Foundation, the non-profit entity behind the NEAR Protocol, has partnered with Ethereum scaling solution Polygon Labs to enhance interoperability across chains. The collaboration will focus on developing zkWASM, a zero-knowledge prover for WebAssembly (WASM) blockchains.
The NEAR Foundation-Polygon Labs Partnership
The partnership aims to bring NEAR Protocol closer to one of the largest blockchain networks in Ethereum and enable blockchains with WASM technology to use Ethereum’s liquidity. This collaboration will lead to the creation of zkWASM, a zero-knowledge prover for WASM blockchains, offering developers greater customizability.
“NEAR Foundation and Polygon Labs announce a strategic collaboration to build zkWASM, a zero-knowledge prover for WASM blockchains. With Polygon Labs’ authority in ZK scaling technology and NEAR’s deep WASM runtime expertise, the zkWASM prover is positioned to lead the market among other WASM provers when it launches next year.”
The partnership will bring together two leading protocol teams to create a secure, interoperable Web3 ecosystem. Chains will also be able to access shared liquidity in a unified ecosystem of CDK-deployed chains, thanks to an in-development interoperability layer.
Efficiency For Validators On NEAR
This partnership will bring greater efficiency for validators on NEAR by simplifying the validation process and improving scalability through zero-knowledge technology. Zero-knowledge proofs remove the need for individuals to provide their personal information routinely.
“The zkWASM prover maximizes developer customizability, which means projects will be able to select from a number of provers when building with Polygon Chain Development Kit (CDK), whether that’s launching or migrating an EVM chain or building a WASM chain for closer Ethereum alignment and access to liquidity.” – Sandeep Nailwal, co-founder of Polygon Labs
“We are very excited to work with Polygon Labs to bring all the benefits of zero-knowledge proofs not just to NEAR but all of Web3. NEAR is integrating more with Ethereum by innovating in new research frontiers, and the shared expertise of NEAR and Polygon will expand the ZK landscape and defragment liquidity across chains. Creating and using the zkWASM prover will also improve the scalability and decentralization of the NEAR L1.” – Illia Polosukhin, co-founder of NEAR Protocol
Near (NEAR) Price Analysis
NEAR is currently trading around $1.50 with neutral sentiment but a Fear & Greed Index indicating Greed at 69. The price is above both the 50-day SMA ($1.16) and the 200-day SMA ($1.35). Despite facing resistance at key levels, if it surpasses these barriers, NEAR could test $1.60 again.
Hot Take: The Future of Interoperability in Blockchain
The partnership between NEAR Foundation and Polygon Labs signifies a significant step towards enhancing interoperability across blockchain networks. The introduction of zkWASM marks an innovative approach that could revolutionize developer customizability and streamline validation processes within blockchain ecosystems.