NEAR's future after Aurora launches $90M fund for DeFi

Near Protocol NEAR/USD is a layer-1 blockchain that powers decentralized applications (dApps). However, it differentiates itself by utilizing what is known as Nightshade, which is a unique sharding technology.

The network was launched in 2020 and offers cross-chain interoperability through the Rainbow Bridge, as well as a layer-2 solution known as Aurora.

Aurora's $90 million funds for DeFi as a catalyst for growth

On May 12, Aurora, the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) designed to scale decentralized applications (DApps) built on the Near protocol, announced the launch of a token fund that is worth $90 million.

This fund was launched through a partnership with Proximity Labs. Its primary goal will be to finance decentralized finance (DeFi) applications that are built for the Near Protocol. 

Funding was provided by Aurora Labs, which allocated 25 million Aurora AURORA/USD tokens that are worth $90 million from the DAO treasury to Proximity Labs.

Proximity Labs now holds the responsibility of managing the funds and providing grants to developers that are going to build dApps on top of Aurora.

Should you buy NEAR Protocol (NEAR)?

On May 13, 2022, the NEAR Protocol (NEAR) had a value of $7.30.

For us to see what kind of value point this is for the NEAR cryptocurrency, we will be going over its all-time high point of value, as well as its performance throughout the previous month. 

The all-time high of the NEAR Protocol (NEAR) was on January 16, 2022, when the token reached a value of $20.44. Here we can see that at its ATH, the token was $13.14 higher in value or by 180%.

When we go over the performance of the token throughout the previous month, NEAR Protocol (NEAR) had its highest point of value on April 8 at $19.31, while its lowest point was on April 30 at $10.69.

Here, we can see that the token decreased in value by $8.62 or by 44%.

With this in mind, while NEAR is still lower in value than its optimal points, this provides a solid entry point for newcomer investors to diversify their portfolios.

NEAR can increase to $10 by the end of May 2022, making it a solid buy.