[Exclusive Interview] Scott Lee "NEAR Protocol Is Dreaming of Web 3.0 Transformation"

From 2021, the term 'Web 3.0' has appeared on a large scale around the world, suggesting a huge change to society. In the existing Web 2.0 world, a number of web 3.0 projects that include new concepts with somewhat unfamiliar terms such as 'Smart Contract' and 'DApp' would be introduced and some of which have made big trends.

Projects that have emerged to build a Web 3.0 world have fascinated developers and investors with their own technology, and this process is still ongoing. These projects are persuading the world with their own definitions and strategies of the concept of Web 3.0, which may still be somewhat unfamiliar to many.

Among them, NEAR Protocol, which has a Layer 1 blockchain with its own mainnet, but may be somewhat unfamiliar in Korea, started full-fledged domestic activities after establishing the 'Near Protocol Korea Hub' in Korea in November last year, drawing keen attention.

Blockstreet, blockchain-specialized economic media, had a chance to get exclusive interview with Scott Lee, a General Manager of NEAR Protocol Korea Hub, who expressed his willingness to answer all of the questions that all cryptocurrency investors would be curious about.

Q. As a Layer 1 blockchain that supports 'Smart Contract' and 'DApp', NEAR Protocol is being considered as one of the most powerful forces in the 'Etherium Killer' side. In terms of differences from Ethereum, especially in terms of price, please introduce a strategy that can aim for a price increase and attract investors differently from Ethereum.

In fact, the NEAR Protocol is a Layer 1 project with its own mainnet, and as mentioned, it is a project with technology-specific advantages. However, since the launch of the project, NEAR Protocol has never defined ourselves as the 'Etherium Killer'. With the unique technology of the NEAR Protocol, NEAR Protocol want to only realize the vision that it can play a special role in building the Web 3.0 world.

Currently, the vision of the NEAR Protocol Foundation is to provide the unique Web 3.0 technology of the NEAR Protocol to guide vast developers and users of the Web 2.0 market to Web 3.0 ecosystem. It means 'Onboarding' to Web 3.0 from Web 2.0 that had thrived and changed the world. NEAR Protocol wants to lead the 'Web world' to prosper once again with Web 3.0 adoption as the newly born Web 3.0 enters the world naturally. Someone should do the work of moving the vast world of Web 2.0 into Web 3.0. NEAR Protocol values the project that move the Web 2.0 into Web 3.0. As such, NEAR Protocol would like to introduce the vision of the NEAR Protocol as 'Web 2.5' that connects Web 2.0 between Web 3.0.

In terms of attracting investors and rising prices, which many, especially investors are most curious about, NEAR Protocol can also explain the advantages of NEAR Protocol's technology and the resulting price correlation.

There were numerous projects that came to the world pursuing the 'technology-crypto projects'. This was the case with Ethereum mentioned, and so were numerous projects that claimed to be the 'Ethereum Killer' side. Ultimately, however, NEAR Protocol thinks there are still very few that have presented a vision considering the distant future after the Web 3.0 ecosystem was built in the world.

Many technology-crypto projects mention Web 3.0, attracting developers and users to provide their own DApps and smart contracts in the ecosystem, but ultimately fail to provide solutions to the technical problems that may arise after more and more developers and users flock to Web 3.0.

One of the representative problems arising from this is the 'bottleneck phenomenon' that can be occurred due to the accumulation of more and more transactions in blockchain. As additional transactions are added to the 'heavy' mainnet due to excessive transactions, the server becomes slower and more error-prone.

NEAR Protocol tried to provide solution to the problem in consideration of the massive adoption of Web 3.0. In other words, the technology was developed by NEAR Protocol assuming that Web 3.0 was fully established in the world.

First of all, in transaction size, NEAR Protocol comprises 4 megabytes per a block. It is very large compared to other projects with only 256 kilobytes per a block. That's how fast transaction processing is. Ultimately, however, the mainnet should be 'lighter' for large-scale adoption of Web 3.0.

To this end, it is the 'sharding technology' that the NEAR Protocol promoted. To put it Simply, the sharding technology is the concept of splitting the mainnet. The concept is that the mainnet is divided into several shapes and accommodates transactions in a 'lightened' state.

Many technology-crypto projects pursuing Web 3.0 have started to improve their own transaction speed by adopting new algorithms using 'Etherium Virtual Machine (EVM)'. However, this was only a temporary measure, and when it eventually became the Web 3.0 world, it could not be the ultimate solution to the capacity problem caused by the vast network size, that is, the web size limit problem.

NEAR Protocol will lighten the activities of the mainnet itself through the projects that split the mainnet, meaning that users and developers can benefit from fast transaction processing and low fees. After all, from a long-term perspective, NEAR Protocol think the 'light' mainnet attract many users and developers in the large-scale adoption of Web 3.0, attracting that much more investments and expecting the price increases.

NEAR Protocol already has four shards through a four-stage sharding program called 'Nightshade'. NEAR Protocol will begin split the mainnet into 100 by the sharding at this year later. In 2024, NEAR Protocol plans to implement 'Dynamic Resharding' that can increase TPS (Transaction Volume Per Second) close to infinity. Investors can look forward to even more great things ahead.

Q. The algorithm stablecoin USN was released in April last year, drawing keen attention, but it was eventually canceled in six months due to a reserve issue. Can you explain on the issue, especially about withdrawal story of USN? Is NEAR Protocol still willing to issue stablecoin?

The issuance and cancellation of the algorithm stablecoin USN all happened before October last year, before the launch of the Near Protocol Korea Hub. Therefore, the exact intention of the foundation is hard to explained by the NEAR Protocol Korea Hub. However, in the case of the NEAR Protocol, current CEO Marieke Flament pursues a very stable progress in the business as she served as a former executive of Circle.

Marieke Flament has been managing the business like 'Look before you leap". In the end, algorithmic stablecoin caused the market as much trouble as it was a big topic last year. Near Protocol Korea Hub just guessed the foundation had no choice but to take a cautious stance.
Q. At the Biddle Asia 2022 (BUIDL ASIA) conference held in July last year, Ilya Polosukhin, co-founder of NEAR Protocol, showed great interest in the Korean market and announced plans to establish a hub in Korea. Is there a specific business expansion plan in Korea?

NEAR Protocol launched the 'NEAR Protocol Korea Hub', recognizing Korea as the second most important market after the U.S.

NEAR Protocol was greatly impressed by Korea's capabilities in the Web 2.0 field and launched a large-scale corps in Korea in November last year, judging that there is a great potential for Korean contents such as games and entertainments. As such, NEAR Protocol Korea Hub is the largest local support community established in Korea by foreign blockchain projects.

NEAR Protocol Korea Hub explained to the foundation that the local corps should understand Korea's unique culture and business practice when launching the Near Protocol Korea Hub. Near Protocol Korea Hub did not want to follow the mistakes many foreign blockchain projects experienced in the Korean market in the early days.

As such, the NEAR Protocol Korea Hub was launched by recruiting people who understood Korean business practice and social culture well. NEAR Protocol Korea Hub has a 'hotline' to instantly respond to all business inquiries and questions about NEAR Protocol in Korea 24 hours a day.

The business that NEAR Protocol Korea would focus on in Korea is largely ▲business development ▲education ▲partnership branding.

As mentioned earlier, NEAR Protocol paid attention to Korean contents, among them, especially Korea's outstanding game industry. NEAR Protocol Korea Hub thought it was the game industry that led the Web 3.0 in the Korean market last year, and NEAR Protocol Korea Hub thinks possibility of the game industry in Web 3.0 field is still massive. As such, NEAR Protocol Korea Hub plans to form partnerships with numerous Korean game companies to support their Web 3.0 transformation.

NEAR Protocol Korea Hub is trying to take the lead in fostering Korea's outstanding Web 3.0 talent. As part of that, NEAR Protocol Korea Hub is currently preparing to open a 'NEAR Hacker House' in Seongsu-dong, Seoul. The intention is to set up a place where developers with creativity gather in a trendy area called Seongsu-dong to develop and communicate with each other for 24 hours a day. The place will be fully equipped for the Web 3.0 developers

NEAR Protocol Korea Hub recognized that there are many developers who have limitations in terms of location and networking. NEAR Protocol Korea Hub wanted to provide them with a place to use comfortably. In the end, the idea is to create talented people with creative development and communication. As much as the purpose of fostering Web 3.0 talent, NEAR Protocol Korea Hub intends to provide a space to welcome all developers interested in Web 3.0.

Like the original vision of the NEAR Protocol, NEAR Protocol Korea Hub plans to push for partnerships with numerous large companies that want to switch to Web 3.0. NEAR Protocol Korea Hub can realistically present strategies for Web 3.0 transition and adoption by large companies, especially distributors, that recognized the trend of Web 3.0, and attempted to transform. As much as NEAR Protocol boasts excellent own technology and know-how in Web 3.0, NEAR Protocol Korea Hub can support their successful transition to Web 3.0.

권승원 기자 ksw@