An Ethereum (ETH) challenger is surging after blue-chip investors poured hundreds of millions of dollars into the crypto project.
According to a new report by Bloomberg, Near Protocol (NEAR) just raised $350 million led by tech investment firm Tiger Global, nearly double what it acquired through fundraising just three months ago.
NEAR is a layer-1 blockchain network and Web 3.0 development platform that aims to solve issues associated with compatibility and limited throughput. It’s also a hub for the development of decentralized applications.
News of the institutional investments sent the token of Near Protocol flying. The crypto asset’s price tag went from a 24-hour low of $14.73 all the way to $19.52 in just one day, a staggering 32% increase.
NEAR has since stabilized and is exchanging hands at $19.12 at time of writing, still up over 22%.
Bloomberg says that the raised funds mean that investors see NEAR as a possible cornerstone of the decentralized web’s future.
Amos Zhang, a partner at venture capitalist company MetaWeb VC, told Bloomberg that this latest round of fundraising is a hint that investors “feel NEAR might be one of the protocols that can take over the world.”
Global investing giant Digital Currency Group (DCG) has also amassed a sizable collection of Near Protocol.
DCG CEO and founder Barry Silbert tells his 742,000 Twitter subscribers that the company’s third-largest crypto holding is NEAR, behind only leading crypto asset Bitcoin (BTC) and top smart contract platform Ethereum.
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