This educational series will utilize the Coinbase Earn program to educate users about NEAR through video tutorials and interactive quizzes produced by Coinbase. Learn about running smart contracts in Javascript and Rust, joining or creating a DAO with a NEAR wallet, how Nightshade sharding is powering NEAR’s incredible scalability, and more. 

Funding Learn and Earn with Staking Rewards 

What makes this campaign unique is that it will be the first of its kind to use staking rewards to fund the initiative. Coinbase will manage NEAR tokens over a period of three years, collecting staking rewards and using those rewards to sustainably help users to learn about the utility of the NEAR token and what makes NEAR the world’s leading blockchain for developers, with its low fees, high speeds, and infinite scalability.

“In an era when many crypto companies have relied on unsustainable business models to grow and scale, it was important we found a way of helping educate people about the unique features of NEAR in a sustainable way,” says Marieke Flament, CEO of the NEAR Foundation. 

Certified climate neutral by SouthPole, the leading company for voluntary carbon offsetting, sustainability is at the core of NEAR’s mission of providing a platform that is low-cost, high speed, secure, and easy to use for developers and lay users alike. 

To participate in the Earn campaign, open the Coinbase app and navigate to the “Learning Rewards” tab on the left hand menu. Once there, those logged in and eligible to earn will see the NEAR campaign. 

Integrating NEAR with Coinbase Custody

In addition to the Coinbase Earn program, the partnership will also integrate NEAR with Coinbase Custody—an independent, NYDFS-regulated entity offering clients access to secure, institutional-grade offline custody—and Coinbase Prime, an integrated solution that provides secure custody, an advanced trading platform, and additional prime services. 

“We are committed to democratizing access to the world of Web3 and giving more people the opportunity to help shape its future,” Flament says. “We are making it easier than ever for anyone to learn about the utility of the NEAR token and its ability to create a more accessible and sustainable Web3. We believe that through education, we take another step towards mass adoption.”

This partnership will allow NEAR Foundation to expand its ecosystem by tapping into the huge number of users who put their trust in Coinbase and showing them just how easy NEAR is to use and understand. 

The post NEAR Launches Sustainable Learn and Earn Program with Coinbase appeared first on NEAR Viet Nam Hub.

NEARCON will be an interactive demonstration of the talent, creativity, intelligence, and practical use cases of the mighty (and growing) ecosystem. It will also be a pretty rad time, with parties, IRL hackathon, food trucks from around the world, fun swag, and more! 

Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop 

Start the week off strong on September 11th by picking up your badge and swag bag. The NEARCON Registration Party, which is carnival-themed, will feature a bounce house from SWEAT where you can Bounce to earn SWEAT. Oh, and did we mention there will be a ferris wheel to take in the epic views that Lisbon has to offer? 

Opening Night at NEARCON kicks off with a soirée of epic proportions hosted by Proximity. You won’t want to miss the future of finance taking over Lisbon in one incredible night. VIP Tickets are FREE, but they must be obtained from one of our 10 fabulous sponsors: Orderly Network, Few and Far, Cornerstone/MetaWeb, Ref.Finance, Meta Pool, Aurigami, Burrow Cash, Trisolaris, Pembrock Finance, and Bastion. Check out their Twitter, Discord, Telegram today. Tickets will be released this week!

Part of the NEARNaut tribe yet? If not, definitely get your NEARNaut NFT from one of NEAR’s marketplaces (Paras or Few and Far) before NEARCON so you can attend the NEARnaut after party. It will be a great vibe and a chance to get acquainted with this community-driven, randomly-generated NFT PFP project built on NEAR. We hear they are also demoing their mutant serums—you might want to upgrade that NEARNaut!

NEAR UA Takes Lisbon

Since March, the NEAR Ukraine Hub (NEAR UA) has made its home in Lisbon and at NEARCON you’ll get to learn all about what they’ve been up to. NEAR UA is a combination of community, project accelerator, fund pool, product lab, event and marketing service, and a hiring service for the NEAR ecosystem. At their booth you will be able to explore hub activity and discuss current projects and opportunities for collaboration. You’ll also be able to grab some swag with Ukrainian symbols to show off when you get home. 

On September 13th, NEAR UA is hosting a Ukrainian night called “The Code of Freedom” with headliner ONUKA and opener Miura. You definitely don’t want to miss this or the afterparty thrown by NEARNauts. 

At “The Code of Freedom” everyone will have the opportunity to learn about Ukraine, including its unique culture, hip styles, yummy food, and funky music that will make you want to get on your feet and shake it. You’ll get to witness the very “code of freedom” that helps Ukrainians now. 

100% of proceeds from ticket sales will directly help Ukrainian hospitals procure modular external fixators and prepare for winter in areas in the Kharkiv region with heat, food, and hygiene. Purchase a ticket to the event and help NEAR UA surpass their goal of €20,000! 

A Global Happening 

Though the talks and panels will be in English, expect to hear a lot of different languages spoken at NEARCON. There will be over 170 countries represented in attendance! In addition to the NEAR UA, other regional hubs featured at NEARCON will include the Balkans, Kenya, and Vietnam. 

Visit the various Regional Hubs to learn how NEAR is operating around the world. Also, expect to find delicious food trucks representing all these regions in the World Lounge. Who doesn’t love food trucks?

Mainstage Revelry

The Mainstage at NEARCON is the crown jewel of the Conference. The Mainstage is where you’ll hear keynote speeches from some of the most ambitious minds in Web3, including the top leaders at NEAR, Pagoda, Aurora, and Sweat Economy. You’ll also be present for a ton of great panels on a wide variety of Web3 topics, including the “Meaning of Money”, “Why We Need Web2.5”, “Navigating Crypto’s Cycles”, “How NEAR and SailGP Are Revolutionizing Professional Sport”, and much more. 

House of Hackstravaganza

Hackers can still grab a free conference pass by applying for the hackathon here. If selected, hackers get free admission to NEARCON, and after submitting a successful hack they get a travel stipend paid in NEAR tokens. There will be a registration party/orientation on September 11th when hackers will be onboarded and teams will be assembled. 

In addition to receiving hands-on mentoring, hackers will be able to compete for $145k in crypto prizes to be awarded to 10 individuals and teams, including first, second, and third place, as well as winners in categories such as Future of Finance, Web2 to Web3, Governance, and more. Check out the judges and get more information here. 

Get Activated

NEARCON will be a hotspot for developer activations, with Pagoda and Aurora leading the way. You will definitely want to stop by their booths and meet their teams, especially if you are participating in the hackathon. Learn about the developer tools the team at Pagoda builds to simplify the dev experience for dapp developers as they build, deploy, test, and launch on NEAR. 

Hackers will be invited to an Orientation on the 11th during the Registration Party. Meet with the Pagoda team, learn about the latest dev tools, and maybe find future hackathon team members. 

You’ll also get to meet the core Aurora team and learn from them firsthand how to build dapps on Aurora EVM, enhance the UX of blockchain projects with Aurora+, and network with an array of ecosystem projects that are already up and running on Aurora. 

Activations aren’t only for devs, though. Creatives will find themselves more than satisfied with the art, music, and creativity present everywhere at NEARCON, both inside and outside of the conference. Come check out artists working on NEAR including Orrin Campbell, Franknines, Strakts, and Zeitwarp. Get your imagination fed!

Women of Web3 

Ten winners of the Women in Web3 Changemakers will be announced at NEARCON and it will be meaningful to honor them and make room for more women to join the Web3 ecosystem. Check out Forkast’s interview coverage to learn more about the shortlist of nominees. 

There will also be a yummy brunch worth waking up early for on September 12th at Dear Breakfast, which runs from 8:30am to 10:30am. Don’t forget to set your alarm! 

Discounts

TAP Air Portugal has partnered with NEAR to get you discounted airfare to NEARCON! Traveling from Paris, London, or some other European destination? Hop on a quick flight to Lisbon on the cheap. Book through flytap.com and insert the event code “IT22TPCG61” in the promotion/congress code box for 10% off your economy or business class tickets. The discount is valid only for trips made ten days before or after NEARCON.

And psst! If you want to save a little cash on your conference ticket, Pagoda and Aurora have discount codes for 35% off. Check their Twitter feeds to find them! 

Don’t be afraid to say hi!

The NEARCON gathering is a great chance to see what the future holds for Web3. And if you’re developing your own project on NEAR, or thinking about building one, it’s also a fantastic time to get feedback from NEAR’s creative and supportive community. Don’t hesitate to say hello and introduce yourself. Everyone at NEAR is excited to be hosting NEARCON and will be happy to meet you. 

See you in Lisbon!

The post NEARCON 2022 is Almost Here: Explore the NEAR Ecosystem in Lisbon! appeared first on NEAR Viet Nam Hub.

With NEAR’s JS SDK, more than 20 million developers that make JavaScript the world’s most popular coding language can finally join the internet revolution and quickly build fast, scalable, and user-friendly decentralized applications. Having that many more contributors in the space could bring about a fascinating renaissance to the open web.

Although Rust and Solidity are the most prominent programming languages for Layer 1 blockchains, there are fewer than 2.5 million developers worldwide who use these languages. So, opening up the doors nearly 10x is a major step towards mass adoption. JS runs in every browser, the basics can be taught in an afternoon, it requires no compiler setup, and it comes pre-loaded with useful libraries like RegExp, Math, and Array. The NEAR JS SDK brings this same capability and ease of use to developing smart contracts, unlocking the power of blockchain to a much, much wider audience. 

Commenting on the launch, Illia Polosukhin, Founder of NEAR, says: “Developers can spend less time learning a new language and more time building their application in a language they already know. Millions of developers already know how to program in JavaScript; enabling this group to build novel applications on NEAR is a critical step in achieving our vision of a billion users interacting with NEAR.”

Learn, build, and deploy in minutes

NEAR’s commitment to putting simplicity and usability first is reinforced by this release, making the learning curve for blockchain far less steep than it has ever been. Javascript developers can now set up their first dApp in the same amount of time it takes to spin up a React app. 

The JS SDK release has everything you need to dive right into blockchain development including the contract framework itself, JavaScript and TypeScript contract examples, and example tests. It is implemented in TypeScript, which offers developers implicit, strict, and structural typing, along with type annotations built into your favorite IDE. 

Developers can get started building their first JavaScript decentralized application by following this quick start guide or heading to Pagoda’s landing page to learn more. 

A Closer Look at the JS SDK

The JS SDK provides each contract its own instance of a JS engine running inside it. This design allows developers to write contracts in pure JavaScript or TypeScript, and access all the same features, like oracles, available to Rust contracts.

To get started, run npx create-near-app in your terminal and select JavaScript for your smart contract. Once everything is installed you can test, compile, and deploy your newly created project with ease.

For a more detailed look at the contract structure and other configurations check out this dApp QuickStart Guide on NEAR’s Official Documentation site. 

About Pagoda

The JS SDK is developed by Pagoda, the engineering team that builds and maintains NEAR Protocol and some of the most important tools needed for decentralized application (dApp) development. Developers can use the Pagoda suite of tools to build, deploy, test, and interact with smart contracts on NEAR. For more information on the JS SDK, visit Pagoda or join the NEAR Discord and checkout the #engineering channels where resources like live support are available every day. 

The post NEAR Releases JavaScript SDK, Bringing Web3 to 20 Million Developers appeared first on NEAR Viet Nam Hub.

NEAR was founded during some of the gloomiest times of the previous “Crypto winter”, so at least some of this was already familiar territory. In fact, NEAR’s resilient design was informed by the uncertainty in the markets surrounding its release. This resilience is not just evident in the technology, but it can also be seen throughout the ecosystem. 

To maintain the health of its vibrant community, NEAR focused the aim of its hackathons towards a broader, more ambitious journey for participants—what if these hackathons could foster each team from ideation all the way to forming a Web3 start-up with a market-ready product?

MetaBUILD III: A Bigger, Better Impact

MetaBUILD is considered one of the biggest hackathons in the blockchain community. With a $1 million in prizes pool, nearly 4,000 participants, and more than 350 submissions from across the world, it has helped realize ideas from streaming tokens to metaverse worlds. In fact, some of these winners will be featured at NEARCON in September, so the community can listen to their stories and learn from their challenges.

This year, MetaBUILD III returns with its $1 million in prizes, with registrations opening today and submissions starting September 23rd. But participants should expect to see the hackathon’s format evolve. It’s shaping it up to become an 8-week product-oriented incubation program, hosted by Pagoda, focused on supporting teams beyond the prize money, towards securing funding, and producing a market-ready prototype. Here’s what else is new:

• Instead of the Welcome track (for newly created projects), a Web2 track will be established to help existing teams integrate NEAR blockchain into their current products.
• Only newly created or substantively modified projects are allowed to enter the Native track to ensure that participants are committed to remaining in the ecosystem even after they win. Proofs of concept projects built during NEARCON’s 48hs IRL hackathon are welcome to join MetaBUILD. 
• Challenges instead of bounties: MetaBUILD III is looking for sustained product teams who understand their market and are committed to building solutions addressing some of the most pressing challenges of today: rising unemployment, the energy crisis, refugee crises, climate change, access to education and other resources, media censorship, etc.

This shift in perspective centers on an understanding of how impactful $1 million could be in the right hands. It is not only about proving great ideas, but growing them as products that can make a long-term impact in the ecosystem and beyond!

Ways to MetaBUILD

Whether you are a solo hacker or an ecosystem partner, there are several ways to participate in MetaBUILD III:

• As a developer

Incubate your project from idea to an MVP in 8 weeks. Find some talented teammates, and win $20-60k to continue building. 

Learn more >

• As a non-technical person

Pivot your career into Web3, and join one of the teams as a designer, bizdev expert, product manager, or copywriter to build a winning project together.

• As a NEAR community member

Host a workshop, share your success story, or provide mentorship to participants. 

Learn more >

• As a Web3 company or VC

Spread the word about MetaBUILD in your community, apply to become a mentor or a judge, or host an IRL event to inspire and support the MetaBUILD community. 

Learn more > 

To help fuel the ideas for the next big wave in Web3, a whole educational program will be added to the incubation process:

• The Education team behind NEAR University will provide self-paced NEAR workshops.
• Team Docs will present their Zero to Hero tutorials to make sure the onboarding process is streamlined for everyone. 
• The Pagoda team is already hosting monthly Developer Tooling meetings to demonstrate the features and capabilities of their latest releases.

After the Hack

In addition to all the cash prizes, up to 30 winning teams will be enrolled in an 8-week pre-accelerator program hosted online to shape up their products and prepare them for the next steps in going to market. This preparatory program will include live and self-paced business education workshops designed to help teams write winning grant proposals, navigate funding opportunities, and prepare for the full accelerator program to follow.

Stay tuned for more details on the pre-accelerator program, which will be posted on MetaBuild’s page.  

The “We” in Web3

Navigating a bear market is a sobering experience, but it is also an inspiring one, because Web3 is ready to face new challenges, new audiences, and new use cases. All it needs are open minds, ambitious ideas, and a willingness to work together to change the world—one decentralized project at a time.

Ready to hack the ever changing world? Build your next project on NEAR. MetaBUILD III is here to guide you from idea to market, and beyond. We have the expertise, the funds, and the drive to face new challenges together.

The post Hacking a New World with MetaBUILD III appeared first on NEAR Viet Nam Hub.