Aurora Launches on NEAR Protocol, Providing Ethereum Layer-2 Experience
12.5.2021 15:00:00 EEST | Business Wire | Press release
Aurora, an Ethereum Layer-2 protocol that provides developers and users the experience of Ethereum on top of NEAR Protocol, a scalable blockchain-based developer platform, has officially launched. Aurora combines two pieces of technology to create a seamless experience: a full-featured Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) and a powerful cross-chain bridge. Developers can launch their Ethereum decentralized applications (dApps) on Aurora within minutes by linking to other Ethereum contracts and assets.
Due to increasing traffic in global network activity, Ethereum transaction fees have reached record highs. Aurora bypasses these growing costs by capping gas fees to ensure they do not infinitely increase, maintaining an average transaction cost of a few cents. Aurora manages to lower costs while radically speeding up transactions, which achieve finality within two seconds. Aurora lets developers deploy existing Solidity and Vyper contracts with no changes, while users can seamlessly access these applications using MetaMask and other Ethereum wallets. At the same time, ERC-20 tokens and contract data will be transferable from Ethereum to Aurora through the trustless Aurora bridge (based on the Rainbow Bridge). With low costs, best-in-class transaction finality, and scalability, Aurora redefines what is possible in the Ethereum ecosystem while also expanding NEAR’s ecosystem with the inclusion of every EVM-based application.
“With Aurora, Ethereum users can work with familiar applications while benefiting from the efficiency of NEAR, removing a steep financial barrier to entry for users and developers,” said Illia Polosukhin, Co-founder of NEAR Protocol. “Our goal is to create an interoperable future where the gaps between blockchains, developers and users are bridged. Aurora does just that by allowing for a seamless user experience and allowing for assets to pass uninterrupted between the Ethereum and NEAR blockchains, thereby merging economies and facilitating the development of creator communities that will bring this technology to the mainstream.”
Aurora is fully compatible with Ethereum 1.0, including base fees paid in ETH and out-of-the-box operability with all existing wallets and other tools. To start using Aurora, please visit https://aurora.dev.
About Aurora
Aurora is an Ethereum Layer-2 built on top of NEAR Protocol. Aurora delivers 1000x lower transaction fees compared to Ethereum and sub-two-second transaction finalization. Aurora is fully interoperable with Ethereum, with ETH used as a base token and all existing Ethereum tools usable out of the box. Aurora includes the trustless Rainbow bridge, allowing for bidirectional transfers of any information from Ethereum, including ERC-20s. To learn more about Aurora, please visit https://aurora.dev.
About NEAR Protocol
NEAR Protocol is a blockchain-based, ultra-scalable, developer-friendly platform for decentralized applications. NEAR’s platform provides decentralized storage and compute that is secure enough to manage high value assets like money or identity and performant enough to make them useful for everyday people, putting the power of the Open Web in their hands.
NEAR Protocol uses a technique called “sharding” which splits the network into multiple pieces so that the computation is done in parallel. Parallelism radically increases throughput and allows the network to scale up as the number of nodes on it increases. With NEAR, there isn’t a theoretical limit on the network’s capacity.
Core contributors of NEAR have won multiple world championships in competitive programming and worked at major tech companies such as Google, Facebook and Niantic. To learn more about the NEAR Protocol, please visit https://near.org.
To view this piece of content from cts.businesswire.com, please give your consent at the top of this page.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210512005215/en/
Contact information
KC Maas
near@wachsman.com
About Business Wire
For more than 50 years, Business Wire has been the global leader in press release distribution and regulatory disclosure.
Subscribe to releases from Business Wire
Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Latest releases from Business Wire
Robinhood Chooses Morpho to Power New Earn Product1.7.2026 22:15:00 EEST | Press release
Morpho, the open blockchain-based credit network, today announced it will power Robinhood’s new Earn product, enabling Robinhood's millions of eligible users more options to earn yield onchain via a self-custody wallet, directly within the Robinhood app. The product will roll out progressively to Robinhood's US customer base over the coming weeks. The Robinhood Earn product aims to provide risk-adjusted yield on idle balances using USDG, a dollar-pegged stablecoin. Morpho serves as the underlying credit network, Steakhouse Financial curates the vault infrastructure supporting the product, and Robinhood Chain acts as the settlement layer. The product is delivered through a seamless experience in the Robinhood app. Morpho operates as an open network on the blockchain. Lenders and borrowers compete in real time, helping create more efficient markets and enabling financial products with better rates and terms for users. USDG supplied through Robinhood Earn is deposited into a Morpho Vault
Photonics Innovators Worldwide Invited to Compete for SPIE Prism Awards1.7.2026 21:33:00 EEST | Press release
SPIE, the international society of optics and photonics, invites the optics and photonics community to apply for this year’s SPIE Prism Awards, which recognize outstanding new products making waves on the market. Honorees will be announced at the highly-anticipated award ceremony on 3 February 2027 at SPIE Photonics West in San Francisco, California. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260701642411/en/ SPIE Prism Awards honor exceptional new products transforming optics and photonics technologies. These awards, dubbed the “Oscars of Photonics,” provide scientists and engineers in the optics and photonics industry the opportunity to showcase their contributions to the field. Finalists and winners receive extensive print, web, and onsite promotion at SPIE Photonics West, which draws more than 22,000 researchers and industry leaders every year. “The Prism Awards are recognized across the optics and photonics industry
Around 500 Attend Sino-European ESG Conference in Germany1.7.2026 19:00:00 EEST | Press release
Around 500 government officials, business executives and academics from China and Europe gathered in the western German city of Mainz on Friday for the Third Sino-European Corporate ESG Best Practice Conference to discuss how deeper cooperation can support sustainable economic growth. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260701255421/en/ Group photo of selected attendees at the conference. Hosted by the Chinese Consulate General in Frankfurt and jointly organized with authorities from Germany and China, the conference brought together participants from China, Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Denmark, Luxembourg and several other countries under the theme "From Vision to Practice: Empowering Sustainable Growth Through Collaboration." Francesco La Camera, Director-General of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), delivered a video address. Speaking at the opening ceremony, Huang Yiyang, Chinese Co
Sinopec Receives CSR Award at Sino-European ESG Conference in Germany1.7.2026 16:38:00 EEST | Press release
China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. (Sinopec) has received the Corporate Social Responsibility Best Practice Award at the 3rd Sino-European Corporate ESG Best Practice Conference in Mainz, Germany, for its case study on carbon footprint management and low-carbon development. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260701696760/en/ Huang Yiyang (L), Chinese Consul General in Frankfurt, presents the award to a representative of Sinopec. The conference jury said Sinopec has developed a carbon management framework centered on product carbon footprint management, covering the full product life cycle while aligning with both Chinese and European standards. It cited the company’s work with German chemical producer BASF to achieve mutual recognition of carbon footprint accounting methodologies as a milestone that could support greener cooperation across international industrial supply chains. According to the jury, Sinopec’s eff
Vercel and Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Formula One Team Announce Multi-Year Strategic Partnership1.7.2026 16:30:00 EEST | Press release
Today Vercel, the agentic infrastructure company, announced a new multi-year deal with the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Formula One Team. Starting with the British Grand Prix July 2 – 5 2026, Vercel branding will appear on the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Formula One Team race cars as the partnership begins its first chapter, before expanding significantly across the team ecosystem from 2027 onward. The partnership includes global branding rights, premium hospitality experiences, customer engagement, content creation, and technical collaborations, including plans to evolve the team’s digital platforms to Vercel. “Formula One is where every millisecond matters, every decision counts, and continuous innovation is fundamental to success. Vercel shares that same philosophy,” said Richard Sanders, Chief Commercial Officer, Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Formula One Team. “The Vercel platform is helping organizations around the world build faster, perform better, and innovate with confidence. We are excited to wel
In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.
Visit our pressroom