Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by volume, has completed the integration of the stablecoin USD Coin (USDC) with the NEAR Protocol (NEAR) network. This integration allows users to deposit and withdraw USDC on Binance using the NEAR network at significantly lower fees compared to other networks like Ethereum and Avalanche.
Following the integration, Binance users can now initiate USDC transactions on the NEAR network. The transaction fee for withdrawing USDC from Binance using NEAR is only 1 USDC, which is considerably less than the fees on Ethereum at 15 USDC and AVAX C-Chain at 4.59 USDC.
This move by Binance is seen as valuable for the NEAR Protocol project, which has the potential to increase network usage and adoption. NEAR Protocol is a community-operated cloud computing platform designed as a Layer 1 Blockchain network that addresses limitations such as slow transaction speeds, low efficiency, and poor interoperability that plague rival blockchains.
NEAR Protocol offers an ideal environment for decentralized applications (dApps) and provides a developer and user-friendly platform. Unlike the cryptographic wallet addresses common on Ethereum, NEAR Protocol uses human-readable account names. It also adopts unique solutions to scaling issues, including its consensus mechanism called “Doomslug.”
The NEAR Protocol is developed by the NEAR Collective, a community that updates the initial code and releases updates to the ecosystem. The stated aim of this community is to create a platform secure enough to manage high-value assets like money or identity and performant enough to be useful for ordinary people.
Examples of projects built on NEAR Protocol include Flux, a protocol that allows developers to create markets based on assets, commodities, and real-world events, and Mintbase, an NFT minting platform. The native asset of the NEAR Protocol is NEAR.