One Ethereum Rival Gained Steam in Q3 2023, According to Binance Research

A new report from Binance Research claims that one Ethereum (ETH) competitor ignored the greater crypto market trend and witnessed a surge in activity in the third quarter of this year.

Researchers at the top global crypto exchange by trading volume note that the smart contract platform NEAR Protocol (NEAR) clocked 120% quarter-on-quarter growth in terms of average monthly transactions.

Explains Binance Research,

“Blockchain activity generally declined across the board in Q3 with a fall in the number of transactions across most blockchains. Notwithstanding that NEAR is starting from a low base, it has witnessed increasing usage driven by top-down partnerships and grassroots initiatives.”.

The researchers also note that NEAR Protocol registered an increase in daily active addresses in a quarter where most smart contract platforms suffered a decrease. The project reached an average of 650,000 daily active addresses and passed both Ethereum and Solana (SOL) in terms of that metric in September.

USDC, the second-largest stablecoin by market cap, launched on NEAR in September, which helped fuel the protocol’s surge in active addresses, according to Binance Research.

NEAR Protocol is focused on scalability and stability. The project aims to allow developers to build decentralized applications at low cost.

The protocol’s native asset, NEAR, is trading at $1.12 at time of writing.

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