Near Protocol’s native token has had a great 24 hour following the announcement of a second round of funding.
Over the last 24 hours, the NEAR token that powers the eponymous Blockchain network has increased almost 23%.
According to CoinMarketCap, the bullish action has placed NEAR at $19 as the 16th largest cryptocurrency market capitalization. This is only 6.5% off NEAR’s January all-time high at $20.42.
Near Protocol was launched in May 2020 to address many of the scalability issues that exist in crypto space.
It boasts high speeds, low costs, and various features such as a Proof-of-stake consensus mechanism, a scaling technology called sharding, and a unique block producing implementation, which achieves finality quicker than other competitors.
The crypto space uses the term “finality” to describe when transactions cannot be modified or cancelled.
What’s the Pumping Near?
Today’s jump follows a new $350million investment made in Near. This included funding from FTX Ventures and Dragonfly Capital. This new money will be used to expand the ecosystem. Near raised another $150 million in January.
Barry Silbert, founder of Digital Coin Group, declared the Group’s third largest crypto holding, after Bitcoin, Ethereum, and the Near token.
Rumours have been circulating that Near would soon launch a native stablecoin. After Zoran Cole’s recent newsletter, speculation erupted. He explained how USN, which is the name of the stablecoin would offer an “extremely attractive 20% APR”, and spark a surge in DeFi activity.
There is little evidence beyond Cole’s claims, and some details were pulled from Finance’s testnet. Near-based projects shows that a stablecoin named USN is used within the platform’s decentralized trading system ( DEX).
Decrypt is still waiting for a response from Near Protocol regarding the authenticity of these rumors.
However, the cryptocurrency have already rally around the potential for a lucrative new opportunity that has likely affected Near’s price today.