Aurora is a decentralized platform that provides NEAR Protocol scalability for the Ethereum network.
The Ethereum platform, even with its far-reaching innovations and dominance, is still plagued with performance issues that greatly limit a developer’s ability to tap its potential. In line with this, a platform was created not to compete with the blockchain giant but to act as a bridge between Ethereum and an ultra-fast protocol to benefit more users and developers.
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Background
Aurora Labs’ current CEO is Dr Alex Shevchenko, an entrepreneur with a PhD in physics and math, as well as a blockchain believer since 2015.
Arto Bendiken, the company’s CTO, has been a software engineer for more than 20 years and has worked for big agencies, including the European Space Agency.
The entire Aurora team is composed of a remote-first team spread across the globe with the common goal of delivering an advanced yet convenient blockchain platform for the world.
What is Aurora?
Aurora, built by the core team behind NEAR protocol, is a decentralized platform that equips developers with the ability to create smart contracts for the Ethereum network.
It is divided into two components called ‘Aurora Engine,’ an Ethereum Virtual Machine or EVM, and ‘Aurora Bridge,’ which provides trustless transfer of ERC-20 tokens between Aurora and Ethereum.
It utilizes many features of the NEAR protocol, including developer gas reimbursement, high throughput, high scalability, and cheap transaction costs.
Aurora helps Ethereum developers’ escape’ from the current limitations of the Ethereum network by allowing them to tap the advanced abilities of the NEAR blockchain.
100% Compatible with Ethereum
It is designed to be 100% compatible with the Ethereum blockchain, so developers don’t have to go through any hassles, such as rewriting their applications when using the EVM.
It also simplifies the process of the protocol and contract deployments from other EVM chains like Ethereum, Binance Smart Chain, Avalanche C-Chain, and Polygon.
Aurora has an incredible block time of over 1 second and transaction confirmation times of just around 2 seconds.
Also, it was created to be a smart contract on the NEAR blockchain, which means that the protocol’s early-stage maintenance, governance, and development can all be simplified.
ETH is Aurora’s base currency, which provides developers with a great user experience and advocates ecosystem sustainability.
A Quick Hop on NEAR Blockchain
NEAR blockchain, for those who are not yet familiar with it, is a decentralized platform – and an Ethereum competitor – that offers incredibly fast, secure, and scalable transactions.
In other words, NEAR is almost everything that Ethereum isn’t at the moment, making it an ideal platform for developers.
More About Aurora’s Benefits
- Transaction fees are up to 1,000x lower than Ethereum.
- It can handle thousands of transactions per second, which is 50x more compared to Ethereum.
- It’s fast transaction finality reduces the risk of front-running cyber attacks.
- It has a greener operation thanks to its Proof-of-Stake mechanism.
Seamless Asset Transfer
Aurora, as was mentioned before, was built to be fully compatible with Ethereum, allowing its users to send ordinary Ethereum transactions.
But it can also execute a more sophisticated asset transfer like permissionless token bridging, which is powered by Rainbow Bridge technology.
Rainbow Bridge was specifically built to seamlessly transfer tokens between the Ethereum, Aurora, and NEAR blockchains.
The Bridge facilitates the transfer of assets from Ethereum and internal NEAR token transfers to migrate NEAR-native assets straight to Aurora.
With this ability, Aurora technically becomes the point of connection for NEAR and Ethereum’s economies.
AURORA Token
Aurora Token, with a total supply of 1 billion, is the platform’s official governance token launched on Ethereum and was bridged to NEAR and Aurora through the Rainbow Bridge.
A portion of the token supply is allocated to the Community Treasury to support both proposed and existing projects through a voting process.
AURORA tokens can be used for staking, voting, Rainbow Bridge transfer finalization fees, Aurora contract additional execution fees, and more.
Aurora Stake Farming
Aurora is the first project to adopt NEAR blockchain’s Proof-of-Stake 2.0, which opens more profitable staking opportunities for validators and project developers.
In line with this, Aurora DAO has launched the Aurora validator to fulfill its promise of providing 3% of AURORA tokens to the NEAR community.
To participate in stake farming, go to this link and click the ‘Stake with a Validator’ button.
Note: Participants will receive AURORA Tokens as staking rewards, and the staking fee structure is designed to allow NEAR tokens to cover both the Aurora network and bridge fees.
AuroraDAO
AuroraDAO is the platform’s own decentralized autonomous organization that governs the entire Aurora protocol.
The Council is responsible for voting on high-level decisions related to network operations and incentives and has the authority to give orders to subordinate organizations.
Key early investors and ecosystem partners, including protocols and partners, hold a portion of the DAO seats.
Aurora Apps: A Quick Look
1mlnFTS
‘1 Million NFTs’ is a smart contract-based decentralized platform on Ethereum which contains 1 million NFTs and a 10,000 x 10,000 pixels grid.
Every 100 pixels is customizable, and holders can either buy, sell, paint or rent them to create any images with their desired link and information inside.
Bastion Protocol
Bastion Protocol is an algorithmic and decentralized lending protocol with a focus on seamless user experience, compostability, algorithmic risk optimization, and tokenomics.
With the help of NEAR, Bastion can deliver capital efficiency, accurate liquidation, speedy transactions, and above all, very low fees.
Cobo
Cobo is Asia Pacific’s biggest asset management platform and crypto custodian and provides services including DeFi and asset management, lending, custody, and trading.
Help Each Other
Help Each Other (HEO) is the first decentralized stablecoin crowdfunding platform that completely eliminates geographical and even political barriers when it comes to fundraising.
It is already live, not only on Aurora but also on Binance Smart Chain, Celo, and Ethereum mainnets.
Moonflower Farmer
Moonflower Farmer is the first play-to-earn game in Aurora, which brings players in a farm-themed metaverse with many fun farm activities.
Aurorascan
Aurorascan is the platform’s version of the Etherscan, which is currently the most-used Ethereum analytics platform and block explorer.
Aurora’s version has all the features and reliability of the Etherscan, but what sets it apart is that it gives developers advanced tools and data to see Aurora EVM’s operations.
Allbridge Partnership
Allbridge is an application that brings various blockchains into one place through the use of global interoperability across all networks. The application has partnered with Aurora to improve its capabilities in cross-chain accessibility.
Through this partnership, Allbridge has successfully created a bridge between Aurora and Terra, which is one of the largest cryptocurrencies by market cap.
Aurora Knowledge Base
Aurora Knowledge Base is a resource designed to be more comprehensive than the usual ‘FAQs’ to better help users search for Aurora-related answers they need.
It provides answers, not just on surface-level questions but also on sophisticated ones, including matters related to Ethereum Virtual Machine and Rainbow Bridge.
This resource works hand-in-hand with other information resources such as the Aurora Support bot, FAQs on the Aurora website, Rainbow Bridge app, and the platform’s blog
Conclusion
Aurora brings a lot of genuine solutions to the table thanks to its smart integration of Ethereum and NEAR’s ability to create incredible services. With its fast performance, secured platform, easy-to-use operations, and reliable team, Aurora is on track to capture a larger slice of the blockchain market in the near future.
