NEAR Pushes ‘Signatures’ on Mainnet, in Growing Trend of Chain Abstraction

Introduced in March’s testnet, Chain Signatures is a new feature that empowers NEAR account holders to endorse transactions across compatible blockchains without relying on cross-chain bridges. This streamlined process aims to simplify and expedite multi-chain transactions, enhancing usability.

Illia Polosukhin, a co-founder of NEAR, has emphasized their project’s plan for chain abstraction, which is intended to streamline the user experience in the expanding multi-chain crypto environments. Meanwhile, an independent project called Router Protocol, focusing on chain abstraction and utilizing Cosmos blockchain technology, recently launched its primary network last week.

In a conversation with CoinDesk, Kendall Cole, CEO of Proximity Labs (a supporter of the NEAR platform), noted that Chain Signatures are integral to NEAR’s philosophy for designing blockchain infrastructure.

Cole stated, “Indeed, it is our primary offering. It has the potential to power other significant solutions as well.”

NEAR argues that introducing Chain Signatures can facilitate easier DeFi activities like borrowing, lending or trading.

“NEAR stated in their press release that this feature significantly increases the liquidity and versatility of assets on multiple blockchains, resulting in a smooth and effective financial network.”

Using NEAR’s Chain Signatures, it’s possible to facilitate decentralized finance (DeFi) on blockchains such as Bitcoin, which typically don’t have built-in smart contract functionality. In simpler terms, this means that even blockchains like Bitcoin could potentially benefit from DeFi applications in a decentralized manner.

“Cole told CoinDesk about an upcoming app launch, which essentially allows users to exchange Bitcoin with any other blockchain, serving as a decentralized trading platform,” (paraphrased)

Over the past few months, there’s been a surge of action surrounding Bitcoin, as numerous initiatives have emerged, seeking to integrate layer-2 architectures and non-fungible token functionalities onto the Bitcoin platform.

Cole explained to CoinDesk that our tech facilitates a Bitcoin custodial smart contract on the NEAR platform, which interacts with the Bitcoin network.