NEAR Foundation, a non-profit organization responsible for developing the NEAR protocol, has recently announced its partnership with Alibaba Cloud to promote the growth of Web3 in Asia and the Middle East. This collaboration aims to provide developers in these regions access to Alibaba Cloud’s developer ecosystem, enabling them to create projects on the NEAR protocol. The partnership also offers developers the opportunity to launch a new NEAR validator using Alibaba Cloud’s “plug-and-play” infrastructure and provides remote procedure calls as a service to users in the NEAR ecosystem.
Furthermore, Alibaba Cloud will provide multi-chain indexing, offering a data-query application programming interface to developers. This comprehensive partnership allows the NEAR Foundation to establish a stronger presence in the rapidly growing Web3 sector, especially in regions where the sector is still in its early stages but shows significant potential.
Raymond Xiao, head of international Web3 solutions at Alibaba Cloud Intelligence, highlighted the importance of this partnership, stating that it supports Web3 developers in exploring new opportunities. Additionally, Xiao emphasized the significance for developers and validators in Asian markets as they can leverage Alibaba Cloud’s infrastructure in the region.
The partnership between NEAR Foundation and Alibaba Cloud is expected to boost NEAR’s popularity in China and across Asia due to Alibaba Cloud’s immense reach and influence in these markets. This is especially reinforced by the recent announcement that Joseph Tsai, a pro-crypto advocate, will replace the long-time chief of Alibaba, Daniel Zhang, as the new Chairman. Tsai has been actively involved in the cryptocurrency space as an investor, contributing to funding rounds for prominent platforms like FTX, Polygon, and Artifact Labs.
The NEAR Foundation has primarily focused on building decentralized applications across various industries, including gaming and finance. With this new partnership, NEAR aims to expand its reach, increase user adoption, and promote a higher degree of decentralization across the blockchain ecosystem.
Following the partnership announcement, NEAR’s native token experienced an 8% surge, reaching $1.57. Currently, the token is traded at $1.56, showing a growth of more than 31% over the past two weeks. NEAR’s recent initiatives, such as the launch of its Blockchain Operating System (BOS), have contributed to its growing popularity in the Web3 sector. The BOS platform enables developers to interact with other users on the network and build decentralized applications.
Overall, the partnership between NEAR Foundation and Alibaba Cloud provides the NEAR protocol with the necessary tools and resources to accelerate Web3 growth in Asia and the Middle East. By leveraging Alibaba Cloud’s developer ecosystem and infrastructure, NEAR can enhance its presence and strengthen its position in these emerging markets. This collaboration signifies a significant step towards the widespread adoption of Web3 technologies and showcases the potential for further partnerships between non-profit organizations and industry-leading companies to drive innovation and transformative change in the blockchain sector.