NEAR Protocol has completed the deployment of Phase 2 of its mainnet which has seen the network become fully decentralized and permissionless. The news is the latest development for the community-driven project that aims to democratize the development of the emerging Open Web architecture via blockchain technology.
Despite concerted efforts to improve the adoption of blockchain technology, several barriers still exist, preventing a broad-based utilization of the novel tech. Industry stakeholders say blockchain development especially for enterprise-grade solutions needs to be simplified.
NEAR Mainnet Phase 2 is Now Live
In a press release shared with Blockonomi, the NEAR project announced the completion of its Phase 2 mainnet deployment on Oct. 13. According to the press statement, the NEAR Protocol is now operating as a fully permissioned and decentralized network meaning that developers and other users alike now have open access to the network to deploy apps or transfer tokens.
Phase 2 of the NEAR Protocol mainnet is the third development stage for the project. Between April and September, the NEAR dev team completed the “Proof of Authority” and “Mainnet Restricted” stages of the network’s roadmap.
Before the Phase 2 migration, initial network validator nodes voted to remove the token transfer restriction protocol. Thus, all staked tokens now generate returns that can be transferred irrespective of the vesting period of staked “coins.” With this new development, network participants can transfer tokens or act as validators.
Commenting on the pace of the progress achieved thus far, Near Inc. co-founder and CEO Illia Polosukhin remarked:
When the Genesis Block occurred in April, NEAR set a goal that developers can actually deploy production apps while the network gets more decentralized and is ultimately handed off completely to the community over the next several months. Now, only 6 months later, we are keeping our promise and moving forward, making NEAR Mainnet: Community Governed & Decentralized a reality.
Emphasis on Seamless Blockchain Development
As previously reported by Blockonomi, NEAR Protocol is a developer-friendly blockchain network that aims to open up the novel tech to everyday consumers, positively impacting the drive for broader adoption of the novel tech. The project utilizes “Nightshade”, a unique sharding algorithm and proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus to deliver a scalable blockchain network with no theoretical capacity limit.
Back in May 2020, the project received about $21.6 million in an investment round led by a16z. According to the press release, NEAR Protocol has raised over $60 million in total from private and public investors.
With the Phase 2 mainnet deployment now completed, the NEAR dev team says it will focus on improving its wallet as well as the sharding algorithm. Other planned upgrades include the development of a bridge protocol with the Ethereum (ETH) network and subsequent deployment on the mainnet.