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
Lyft App Launches in Europe30.9.2026 15:00:00 EEST | Press release
Starting today, Lyft (NASDAQ: LYFT) riders can use their Lyft app in cities across Europe. Early access to the Lyft app rolls out in Barcelona and Hamburg first; throughout October, the Lyft app will become available for riders to use in some of Europe’s largest cities including London, Rome, Paris, Berlin, Athens, and Warsaw. By the end of October riders visiting Spain, Italy, Greece, Poland, England, Scotland, Ireland, Austria, France, and Germany will have one go-to app when they cross the Atlantic, building on the foundations from this past summer beta testing the Lyft app in Europe. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260930010726/en/ The Lyft app is now available in Europe “Millions of riders across North America trust Lyft to get them where they’re going every day. Now that same app works the moment they land in Europe. No need to download anything new,” said Sid Patil, Lyft’s Chief Rideshare and Marketplac
A Workplace Worth Toasting: Bacardi Continues its Rise on Forbes World’s Best Employers List30.9.2026 14:45:00 EEST | Press release
Bacardi Limited is proving that a workplace worth toasting keeps getting better. The family-owned business has once again been named to the Forbes World's Best Employers list, taking the top spot among spirits companies. Climbing 17 places since last year, in 2026 Bacardi comes in at #69 globally. The jump in ranking reflects a commitment to creating a workplace where employees feel valued, empowered, and inspired to grow while helping shape the future of the company. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260930327935/en/ Bacardi Limited Leads Spirits Companies Forbes World's Best Employers 2026 Ranking. “At Bacardi, great moments start with great people. That's why we listen carefully to what they're telling us, learn from that feedback, and keep evolving. We want people to feel clear on how they can grow, confident they can make their mark, and supported to do their best work,” says Dave Ingram, Chief People and T
Forrester’s 2027 European Predictions: Despite A Strong Desire To Regain Its Digital Sovereignty, Europe Will Selectively Reset, Not Sever, Key Technology Relationships30.9.2026 14:33:00 EEST | Press release
According to Forrester’s (Nasdaq: FORR) 2027 European predictions, unveiled today at Forrester’s Technology & Innovation Forum EMEA, Europe will enter 2027 determined to recover its digital autonomy, but the gap between its ambition and control will widen. More than half of European companies embracing AI will reduce their dependence on US hyperscalers due to sovereignty concerns, moving their critical data and applications to European providers. A lack of end-to-end sovereign alternatives, however, will require consumers, companies, and policymakers to pursue selective digital autonomy, which consequently will reshape consumer behaviours, cloud choices, mobility, resilience, and trade strategy with China. Forrester’s Predictions reports offer forward-looking insights into trends to help executives and their teams anticipate change, reduce uncertainty, and make confident decisions ahead of market shifts. Key highlights from the Europe 2027 predictions include: China will trigger manufa
Vasion® Named a Leader in the 2026 IDC MarketScape for Worldwide Print Management Solutions as Enterprise Print Becomes AI Ready30.9.2026 14:30:00 EEST | Press release
Vasion, the intelligent print automation company, today announced it has been named a Leader in the IDC MarketScape for Worldwide Print Management Solutions 2026 Vendor Assessment (doc # US54124826, September 2026). This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260930788016/en/ According to the IDC MarketScape, "Organizations in sectors such as education, healthcare, government, manufacturing, financial services, and retail should consider Vasion when seeking support for business process automation revolving around print, output, and agentic or rules-based workflows. Vasion customers may derive considerable value from the vendor's solutions in support of unifying their organizations' digital transformation efforts, particularly where a single portal with functionality extending beyond print management is sought, and especially where FedRAMP® High Authorization, a SOC 2 Type II report, or ISO 27001/42001 certification is req
Pantheon Expands Middle East Presence With New Abu Dhabi Office and Senior Regional Appointment30.9.2026 13:56:00 EEST | Press release
Pantheon, a leading global private markets firm with approximately $84bn in assets under management, today announced the expansion of its presence in the Middle East with the opening of its first office in ADGM, the international financial center based in Abu Dhabi, alongside the appointment of Firas Mallah as Managing Director and Head of Middle East. Demand for access to private equity, infrastructure, and private credit strategies continues to build among sophisticated investors across the Middle East, who recognize Pantheon for its 40-year track record of innovation and expertise across primaries, secondaries and co-investment opportunities. Secondaries – pioneered by Pantheon in 1988 – remains a defining thread across the platform: alongside its long-established private equity secondaries business, Pantheon has among the industry's first and largest private credit and infrastructure secondaries franchises, making it a strong partner in that space across the GCC. These strategies a
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