ChainCatcher news, according to official sources, the NEAR Foundation has announced the first six artificial intelligence teams selected for the NEAR Horizon AI incubation program. These teams will build foundational models, model training, and developer tools for the AI x Web3 intersection, supporting scalable, efficient, and secure user-owned AI. Here are the first six projects of the NEAR AI x HZN incubation program:Mizu: Dedicated to building the first synthetic open data layer aimed at fostering an open, collaborative data ecosystem among AI developers.Pond: Developing foundational cryptographic models using Graph Neural Networks (GNNs) to analyze on-chain data and predict future behaviors.Nevermined: Providing a robust payment infrastructure for AI businesses, facilitating transactions for AI developers.Hyperbolic: Offering open-access AI cloud services, including a GPU marketplace and AI inference services.Ringfence: Helping creators and artists monetize their works while retaining ownership.Exabits: Providing GPU computing in a data center environment, offering the necessary physical and technical conditions for serious AI training, inference, and fine-tuning.

ChainCatcher news, Nuffle Labs, an independent entity established by the NEAR Foundation, has completed a $13 million strategic financing round. The funding comes from strategic grants from the NEAR Foundation and investments led by Electric Capital, with participation from Canonical Crypto, Fabric Ventures, Robot Ventures, Caladan, Lyrik Ventures, and others.Nuffle Labs is building the NEAR Data Availability Layer (NEAR DA), the NEAR Fast Finality Layer (NFFL), and other products within the NEAR modular product suite.The company stated in a press release: "As an independent entity, Nuffle Labs will now be able to make agile decisions to ensure that NEAR Modular products remain competitive. Nuffle Labs' strategic positioning between the NEAR Foundation, Ethereum, and the EigenLayer ecosystem will leverage the strengths of multiple platforms to enhance the efficiency and resilience of the NEAR ecosystem."

ChainCatcher news, the NEAR Foundation announced that the NEAT protocol has received staking support of 1 million NEAR tokens to expand artificial intelligence applications on NEAR. All NEAR token rewards generated from staking will be redistributed to NEAT holders, with an expected annual yield of approximately 120-200%.The NEAR Foundation's initiative aims to support artificial intelligence and blockchain projects on NEAR and promote a broader integration of artificial intelligence with blockchain technology.

According to ChainCatcher news and the official blog, the NEAR Foundation has announced the launch of *NEAR Name Tokens, a multi-chain, cross-platform digital identity suitable for Web3 and other fields.Users will be able to use these name tokens in various ways, including: as simplified wallet addresses across hundreds of different blockchain networks, as infrastructure identifiers across hundreds of different blockchain networks, as cross-platform usernames spanning various decentralized platforms (including DeFi, GameFi, SocialFi, SportFi, and other related applications), as verifiable credentials (VC) for platforms and services with which users interact, to gain unique benefits and reward programs for participating in the D3 ecosystem, and as an expression of interest in the ultimate .NEAR equivalent domain on the internet.NEAR Name Tokens have an asterisk () between the domain and the extension, for example you*near, instead of a dot (.). Part of the reason is that NEAR accounts already use the .NEAR extension, so they want to avoid confusing users.

ChainCatcher news, the NEAR Foundation announced today that the NEAT protocol has received 1 million NEAR tokens in staking delegation from the NEAR Foundation.It is reported that NEAT is an aggregation protocol designed to scale AI applications on NEAR, and all NEAR token rewards from the delegation will be redistributed to NEAT stakers.

ChainCatcher news, according to the official announcement, the NEAR Foundation has announced a partnership with Lulo X and Peersyst Technology. The goal of this collaboration is to redefine digital finance by providing secure and stable digital currencies, thereby broadening the economic prospects of Web3.It is reported that Lulo X is a Colombian fintech company, and this partnership will leverage NEAR Protocol's innovative blockchain technology to facilitate seamless and secure transactions, while also building a native stablecoin on the NEAR blockchain.

ChainCatcher message, the NEAR Foundation has released the latest updates. The NEAR Foundation Council (NFC) has conducted a thorough review of the Foundation's activities. As part of this restructuring, the NEAR Foundation will reduce its team members by approximately 40%, involving 35 employees, primarily from the marketing, business development, and community teams. Pagoda's NEAR protocol engineering team will continue to operate as usual.The financial status of the NEAR Foundation remains strong and well-managed, with over $285 million in fiat currency, 30.5 million NEAR (worth over $1 billion), and $70 million in investments and loans. The Foundation is capable of continuing to support the ongoing growth, development, and further decentralization of the NEAR protocol and ecosystem.

ChainCatcher message, the NEAR Foundation is collaborating with Eigen Labs to build the world's first "fast finality layer" for Ethereum Layer 2. The team stated that transaction times will be reduced from several minutes or hours to 3-4 seconds. The cost of transactions on this new finality layer will be 4000 times cheaper than it is now.

ChainCatcher news, the NEAR Foundation announced a collaboration with Polygon Labs to build zkWASM based on Polygon CDK, aimed at developing zero-knowledge provers for WASM blockchains. The zkWASM prover will be an upgrade for NEAR validators, bringing the NEAR protocol closer to Ethereum and allowing WASM chains to leverage Ethereum liquidity, paving the way for greater trustless interoperability between the NEAR and Ethereum ecosystems. The zkWASM prover is currently under active development and is expected to be launched next year. Additionally, the NEAR Foundation has become a core contributor to Polygon CDK.

ChainCatcher news, the NEAR Foundation announced that NEAR Protocol co-founder Illia Polosukhin has been appointed as the CEO of the NEAR Foundation, while former CEO Chris Donovan will serve as the Chief Operating Officer of the NEAR Foundation, responsible for overseeing the foundation's daily operations, and will continue to serve on the NEAR Member Foundation Board.According to previous reports from ChainCatcher, in September this year, NEAR Foundation CEO Marieke Flament transitioned to a board member, and General Counsel Chris Donovan took over as CEO.

ChainCatcher news, Wintermute co-founder and CEO Evgeny Gaevoy disclosed on the X platform that the NEAR Foundation has refused to fulfill its redemption commitment of $11.2 million USN related to FTX creditors. Wintermute stated that it will make a final public attempt to request the NEAR Foundation to complete the redemption, and if the NEAR Foundation continues this way, Wintermute will take legal action.Gaevoy indicated that Wintermute has been working with the FTX bankruptcy estate since this spring to facilitate the liquidation of its assets to maximize creditor distribution. As part of this, Wintermute was asked to assist in the sale of 11.2 million USN, and Wintermute executed this transaction, providing over $11 million in funding to FTX creditors. The sale was based on NEAR's public statement that USN could be exchanged for USDT on a 1:1 basis, but when Wintermute submitted the redemption request, NEAR refused to fulfill its commitment. Two and a half months later, Wintermute still has not received any USDT, and the final offer received was 20% of the amount involved.

ChainCatcher news, the NEAR Foundation has reached a strategic partnership with the South Korean IT company SK Inc. C&C, which will help Web3 companies expand their business in South Korea and the Asian region, assist businesses in finding suitable Web3 tools to promote their growth, and create a user-centered ecosystem. In addition, the NEAR Foundation revealed that it will conduct joint research with SK C&C, share partners from their respective ecosystems, and collaborate on marketing and increasing influence.It is reported that NEAR is actively exploring the South Korean market and hopes to support the large-scale adoption of Web3 and open technology network technologies in Asian regions such as South Korea and Vietnam.

ChainCatcher news, the NEAR Foundation and Outlier Ventures officially released the list of the first participating companies in the NEAR Base Camp accelerator, which includes Glass, HackQuest, Meteor Wallet, Quidli, QSTN, Shred Spots, and V-Art. The selected seven companies are working hard to build projects with real-world use cases, attracting Web2 users and companies while leveraging Web3 in innovative ways to enhance the network experience.It is reported that the NEAR Base Camp accelerator is a virtual Web3 project jointly launched by the NEAR Foundation and Outlier Ventures. It supports a team of seven startups based on NEAR, utilizing NEAR Discovery to redefine the Web3 user experience and help a billion users join Web3. This 12-week accelerator program provides selected companies with market-leading guidance, education, and up to $100,000 in funding, along with additional support from NEAR Horizon and $20,000 in service credits.

ChainCatcher news, the NEAR Foundation released the Q2 2023 transparency report. As of the end of Q2 2023, the total treasury of the NEAR Foundation amounted to $900 million, which includes $349 million in legal reserves, 315 million NEAR (approximately $435 million at a closing price of $1.38), and $90 million in loans and investments. In Q2 2023, the NEAR Foundation's treasury decreased by $200 million, primarily due to the drop in NEAR's price from $1.99 to $1.38.Additionally, the report mentioned that as of the end of Q2, NEAR had 1.1 million monthly active accounts; due to the overall market downturn, external financing for NEAR projects "remains a challenge." (source link)

ChainCatcher news, entertainment company Shemaroo has partnered with the Near Foundation to establish a Web3.0 innovation unit to explore the potential of blockchain technology in the media and entertainment industry.By leveraging Near's scalable infrastructure and smart contract capabilities, Shemaroo aims to develop innovative solutions and services for its users, focusing on decentralization, transparency, and immutability. (Source link)

ChainCatcher news, the NEAR Foundation launches the Web3 accelerator NEAR Horizon. Through partnerships with Dragonfly, Pantera, Fabric Ventures, Hashed, and other companies, NEAR Horizon will help founding teams scale their projects with broad support. The NEAR Foundation stated that project and founder recruitment will begin in the coming months. (source link)

ChainCatcher news, Web3 wallet relationship management platform WRM developer Absolute Labs announced the completion of an $8 million seed round financing, with participation from Aglaé Ventures, Alpha Praetorian Capital, The Luxury Fund, Near Foundation, MoonPay, Plassa Capital, Punja Global Ventures, Samsung Next, Sparkle Ventures (Animoca Brands), and W3i. The company intends to use the funds to expand its business and scope.It is reported that the users of the WRM platform developed by Absolute Labs include LVMH, The Sandbox, Moonpay, and Mocaverse. WRM is a Web3 CRM solution that enables marketers to gain important insights into potential customers, unify Web2 and Web3 on-chain data, identify actionable segments, and automate cross-channel campaigns, including NFT airdrops throughout the marketing funnel. (source link)

ChainCatcher news, the NEAR Foundation announced that it is refining its grant process, which will include a more decentralized capital allocation model through DAO grants. Initially, this will involve DeveloperDAO, MarketingDAO, CreativesDAO, and an additional DAO that will begin to form in the first quarter of 2023.The NEAR Foundation will stop directly allocating funds from the inbound launch grant program, with the exception of current grants, which will be transferred to MarketingDAO once it is established. Additionally, it is expected to take 6-8 weeks to collaborate with community members to outline a clear application process for funding through the DAO. (source link)