NEAR Protocol (NEAR) Expands Its Chain Signature Upgrade to Support Solana (SOL), Toncoin (TON), and More

Near Protocol (NEAR) has announced technical upgrades that will support some of the fastest-growing altcoins.

In an update on X, formerly Twitter, on Thursday, 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 ideal for the NEAR Protocol’s target.

The Layer-1 protocol is aiming to enable cross-chain control with a single account.

Announcing the Chain Signature upgrade that brings support for EdDSA signing. This is a crucial step towards seamless cross-chain transactions.

Solana, TON, SUI, Aptos, Stellar… You have been selected to be ABSTRACTED.

Follow for more updates on NEAR's technical advancements. #NEAR #Web3Coinsgreater good.

— Near Protocol (@NearProtocol) August 24, 2023

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, alongside the five altcoins, signals the advancement of 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.

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 follows the broader cryptocurrency market trends.

The price of Bitcoin dropped by 1.44% to $25,126.06 in the last 24 hours, while its trading volume decreased by 10.07% to $9.74 billion.

The total cryptocurrency market capitalization stands at $1.20 trillion, showing a decline of 0.67% over the last day.

However, 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 good standard of a secure, user-friendly, and innovative cross-chain application.

Interoperability Push Raises Security and Scalability Concerns

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

This has been a key focus for 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.

However, despite the push for multichain expansion and the accompanying interoperability, experts have concerns 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, there might be operational failures when users overpower the systems, which could seriously impact transactions.