Near at ETHDenver Highlights 

Near will see a number of partnership and project announcements at Near Day and ETHDenver. Over a 1,000 people are attending Near Day, with many more visiting the Near booth and dropping in on ETHDenver talks and panels featuring Near ecosystem figures. Beyond the many engaging talks and projects demos, there was also an ecosystem party, side events, a hackathon, and much more. 

Let’s take a quick look at a few of the latest announcements from Near at ETHDenver. 

A number of other announcements will be rolling out over the course of Near Day and ETHDenver, so stay tuned for those below in the coming days.

Few and Far raises $10.5 million in funding

Few and Far, a leading Digital Collectibles web3 platform, announced today that it has raised $10.5 million in a funding round led by Pantera Capital, the leading blockchain investment firm.The raise marks a significant milestone for Few and Far, which has been experiencing exponential growth since launch. 

The new funds will help expand the platform’s capabilities, enhance user experience, and increase the number of Web3 developers. IP owners also stand to benefit from the platform. Few and Far features an all-inclusive platform available to carry out everything related to next generation digital collectibles, including a suite of developer tools. 

The round also included top VCs, Cypher Capital, Huobi Ventures, Hypersphere, Metaweb, Mantis Partners, K5 Global and many more. 

Near Blockchain Operating System now live on Alpha.Near.Org

Read the full Near Blockchain Operating System announcement here

For Near Day on March 2nd, Near launched alpha.near.org — a composable frontend for Web3. It will allow end users to easily and frictionlessly discover all of Web3’s possibilities in one seamless experience. It will also empower developers to create and code interfaces in a single environment with the ability to fork a host of components to build apps faster and more efficiently than ever before.

Anyone in the Open Web ecosystem can create their own frontends (i.e., their own versions of alpha.near.org), compatible with the blockchain of their choice. This means that builders from any ecosystem can create components in just a few lines of code, and take advantage of fast onboarding to help make new and custom Web3 experiences.

This is an industry first. With the addition of composable frontends to the tech stack, Near now becomes the Blockchain Operating System, allowing seamless, one-time onboarding and removing friction points like making accounts for every experience, while supercharging development from a collection of over 1,800 components. 

Alpha.near.org is the first step in Near’s Blockchain Operating System journey. It’s the Alpha version, where builders can see the frontend come to life. 

Try out the Alpha at alpha.near.org to experience the world’s first Blockchain Operating System — a revolutionary moment in Web3. If you’re a developer, see how easy it is to fork components and create new experiences. If you’re an end user, see how easy it is to explore Web3 experiences, social, and news all in one place. 

The Blockchain Operating System is Near and it’s here. #NearistheBOS

Flow Carbon announces carbon-market ecosystem built on Near

Near and Flowcarbon, the pioneering climate technology company, announced the launch of a carbon-market ecosystem that will enable carbon credits to be traded on the Near network through Flowcarbon’s tokenized carbon credits. With this collaboration, Near will realize its vision of becoming a carbon-negative blockchain. As part of this partnership, Near plans to offset its carbon footprint through Flowcarbon.

Flow Carbon’s carbon credit token will be launched on both Near and Aurora, an Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) built on Near. Validators will be set up for the purpose of offsetting, and large Near holders will be able to stake with these validators.

Designed to make carbon offsetting more accessible and transparent, this partnership will help Near become carbon-negative, solidifying Near’s position as one of the top players in Regenerative Finance (ReFi). 

With Stacksports, parents and athletes can mint royalty-free NFTs

StackNFT is teaming up with Near to offer an NFT platform that allows youth athletes of all ages and skill levels to create and capture their favorite sports memories digitally. 

Youth sports parents and athletes can now mint royalty-free NFTs effortlessly, without any advanced knowledge of the minting or wallet creation process. Just upload, decorate, and mint. Parents and athletes can also mint NFTs knowing that Near is a carbon-neutral, environmentally friendly blockchain, which supports several forest protection and restoration projects.

StackNFT is owned and operated by Stack Sports, a global technology leader in SaaS platform offerings for the sports industry, with nearly 50 million users in 35 countries. From little league to the pros, Stack Sports powers the many moments that create the story of your journey through sports.

Calimero’s private shard infrastructure now live on Near

Calimero.network, a secure private shard infrastructure provider announced that after several months running in a stealth mode, during which it was tested by beta testers and partners, is ready to serve customers with unique blockchain power and a Web2 interface.

With roots in the Near Protocol, Calimero is a high performance blockchain that launched on mainnet in 2020. Founded by Sandi Fatic and Mario Halambek, two of the first infrastructure engineers at Near, Calimero allows projects to launch their own shard in a matter of minutes. In launching a private shard, users can be certain of the network’s performance and security, which is managed by Calimero itself.

Calimero is targeting so-called “Web2.5”, seeking a way to connect Web3 and Web2 worlds. For Web3 startups, Calimero provides a unique way to scale their products and leverage the privacy features, giving access to target Enterprise customers and getting access to new audiences. For classic Enterprises, Calimero offers a way to build new products and onboard chosen Web3 mechanics to find new areas to grow their businesses with growth rates compared to DeFi and NFT markets.

With the cheapest option starting from less than $300, Calimero provides a flexible model to maximize the cost efficiency by adjusting shard performance according to the load. Calimero also offers a 14-day grace period to test out the platform for startups who are in the very beginning of their journey. 

Calimero.network is a London-based startup that has recently raised an investment round of $8.5M, co-led by Khosla Ventures, Lyrik Ventures, and Near foundation. 

Near Foundation Council updates

Near Foundation announced that Mona El Isa, a founding council member at Near Foundation Council (NFC), has been appointed as Chair.  Marieke Flament, CEO of Near Foundation, has joined as a council member, and will govern alongside existing members Richard Muirhead, Chairman and Managing Partner at Fabric Ventures, and Jason Warner, Managing Director at Redpoint Ventures as well as Sheila Warren advisor to Near Foundation and  CEO of the Crypto Council for Innovation. 

Mona takes the place of Illia Polosukhin, co-founder of Near Protocol and CEO of Pagoda (formerly Near Inc.), who has stepped down as Chair and member of the  Near Foundation Council (NFC) to focus on Web3 ecosystem development and participation.  

“It was an honor to serve as Chair and Council Member of the NEAR Foundation Council over the past two years,” said Illia Polosukhin. “I’m stepping down in order to focus fully on the development of products and technology at Pagoda, which is critical to the continuing success of the NEAR Ecosystem.”

“I will continue to be involved with NFC in my capacity as Pagoda CEO,” he added. “From a governance perspective, my departure increases the council’s independence and further decentralizes leadership and decision-making in the NEAR Ecosystem. I welcome Mona’s appointment as the new Chair and Marieke’s as council member to continue steering the Foundation in its mission of supporting NEAR’s growth.”