Near Protocol Adds Support For Solana and TON In Latest Chain Upgrade

Near Protocol (NEAR), the Layer-1 protocol for Artificial Intelligence (AI), has announced technical upgrades to favor some altcoins.

In an update on X, NEAR says its Chain Signature upgrade now supports Edwards-curve Digital Signature Algorithm (EdDSA) signing.

Chain Signature Upgrade Brings EdDSA Integration

For clarity, EdDSA signing is a cryptographic signature used to verify the authenticity and integrity of a message from the sender.

It is a fast, secure, and efficient way to create signatures, which makes it suitable for the NEAR Protocol’s target. That is, to allow for cross-chain control with a single account.

EdDSA signing will allow a NEAR account to control transactions on other blockchains like Solana (SOL), Toncoin (TON), Sui (SUI), Aptos (APT), or Stellar (XLM).

This development, along with the aforementioned five altcoins, signals advancement in NEAR’s vision of providing a unified Web3 experience.

Users can control their assets on these five blockchains without switching wallets. It marks a significant step towards cross-chain interoperability and would make users’ Web3 experience seamless.

NEAR Protocol’s Upgrade and Implications for Solana, Other Altcoins

The EdDSA signature is also a significant step toward chain abstraction, as highlighted by the NEAR Protocol.

“Solana, TON, SUI, Aptos, Stellar… You have been selected to be ABSTRACTED,” the update on X, detailed.

Notably, developers on Solana-based DeFi protocols could easily integrate with NEAR to offer cross-chain lending. That is, users can decide to stake SOL and borrow NEAR.

Additionally, a developer could create a decentralized exchange (DEX) on NEAR that aggregates liquidity from SOL, SUI, and Aptos. This might offer users the best swap rates across these chains.

Meanwhile, smaller chains like SUI and Aptos could see an uptick in their growth if they leverage the exposure that NEAR Protocol offers.

In the short term, the development could spark speculative price increases for SOL, TON, SUI, APT, and XLM.

In the long term, tech experts maintain that the success of this integration will depend on how well NEAR and these chains collaborate.

They insist that developers on NEAR Protocol must ensure a secure, user-friendly, and innovative cross-chain application.

As of this writing, Solana price was down 4.05% to $142.91 in the last 24 hours, while trading volume increased by 15.76% to $3.04 billion.

Like Solana, the other altcoin features, including NEAR and SUI, are also down. This reflects how investors are unfazed by the current integration update.

The others have also suffered a similar decline in price outlook due to broader crypto ecosystem sentiments.

Interoperability Push Raises Security and Scalability Concerns

NEAR Protocol’s abstraction of these altcoins reflects a general push in the crypto industry toward interoperability, scalability, and accessibility by users.

This has been the trend over the past few years, with proponents hoping to drive broader adoption in the sector.

For instance, projects like Polkadot, Cosmos, and other Layer-2 solutions are advancing the ecosystem with interoperability features.

Despite the push for multichain expansion and the accompanying interoperability, tech experts have worries related to security. They stressed the importance of cybersecurity in blockchain technologies.

The visible caution is that the development comes with risks, especially from malicious actors who could exploit loopholes in any of the different chains.

Additionally, operational failures might occur when users overwhelm the ecosystem, which could severely impact transactions.

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