Mapping out NEAR Protocol's ecosystem

NEAR Protocol is an open-source platform for decentralized applications, similar to many use-cases offered by Ethereum today. Founded in 2018 by Alexander Skidanov and Illia Polosukhin, the platform intends to solve the technical barriers associated with smart contract platforms and offer higher throughput and less costly transaction fees. 

Since NEAR has been in development, the project has attracted the attention of notable investors from the crypto/blockchain sector and Silicon Valley. The firm behind NEAR’s development has raised roughly $34 million from at least 41 investors, some of which include Andreesen Horowitz, Coinbase Ventures, and Pantera Capital.