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
HJS Foundation Releases JEP Protocol & HJS Framework: The "Black Box" for AI, Enabling Verifiable Human Oversight24.3.2026 05:36:00 EET | Press release
HJS Foundation (Human Judgment Systems Foundation) today released two complementary solutions: the Judgment Event Protocol (JEP) and the Human Judgment Structure (HJS) framework. As a minimalist open standard, JEP generates tamper-proof records of AI decision accountability, just like an aircraft black box; HJS embeds human judgment logic into AI operation processes — together, they transform "human oversight" from a regulatory requirement into a verifiable technical fact, providing an optional technical solution for AI accountability. How to prove that AI decisions (such as loan approvals, medical diagnoses, border screenings, etc.) have undergone human review? JEP generates immutable audit trails of human intervention through four cryptographic primitives — Judge, Verify, Delegate, Terminate; HJS builds a controllable and accountable system to prevent risks such as AI drift and ensure that human judgment guides AI operations. Current systems rely on alterable post-hoc documentation,
Access Advance Welcomes New VDP Pool Licensors and Releases Independent Economic Analysis Confirming FRAND Compliance24.3.2026 02:00:00 EET | Press release
Access Advance LLC today announced that Sharp Corporation, CB Cline, SK Planet, and Telechips, Inc have joined the Access Advance Video Distribution Patent Pool (VDP Pool) as Licensors, further expanding the pool's portfolio of patents for modern video codec technologies (HEVC, VVC, VP9, and AV1). The announcement coincides with the release of an independent economic analysis by Criterion Economics confirming that the VDP Pool's royalty structure is fair, reasonable, and nondiscriminatory (FRAND). Sharp, a global leader in consumer electronics and display technologies, brings decades of research and development in video processing and compression to the VDP Pool. The additions of CB Cline, SK Planet, and Telechips, Inc further expand the pool’s patent coverage. These additions reinforce the VDP Pool’s position as the leading licensing program for modern video codec technologies powering the streaming experiences of consumers worldwide. "Sharp, CB Cline, SK Planet, and Telechips each br
Power Integrations Extends Flyback Topology to Enable 440 W, Offering Simpler Alternatives to Resonant Power Designs23.3.2026 23:45:00 EET | Press release
APEC 2026 – Power Integrations (NASDAQ: POWI), the leader in high-voltage integrated circuits for energy-efficient power conversion, today introduced a breakthrough in flyback topology extending the power range of flyback converters to 440 W—well beyond the limits that traditionally required more complex resonant and LLC topologies. The new TOPSwitchGaN™ flyback IC family unites the company’s groundbreaking PowiGaN™ technology with its iconic TOPSwitch™ IC architecture, reducing complexity, eliminating heat sinks in many cases, shortening design time, improving manufacturability, and lowering total system cost. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260323686299/en/ The new TOPSwitchGaN™ flyback IC family extends the power range of flyback converters to 440 W—well beyond the limits that traditionally required more complex resonant and LLC topologies. “This is more than a product evolution—it’s a fundamental shift in
I-Pulse Announces Strategic Partnership to Advance Geothermal Pulsed Power Applications in the Millungera Basin, Australia23.3.2026 23:40:00 EET | Press release
I-Pulse Co-Founder, Chairman, and CEO Robert Friedland, I-Pulse Co-Founder and Head of Technology Laurent Frescaline, and Sunrise Energy Metals Managing Director Sam Riggall, are delighted to announce a partnership to deploy and validate I-Pulse’s G-Pulse pulsed power drilling technology in the Millungera Basin, a large-scale geothermal clean energy resource located in northwest Queensland, Australia. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260323421297/en/ Left: Millungera Basin location in Queensland, Australia. Right: Millungera Basin (in brown) to the east of the Mt Isa Inlier (in red) and EPG permit areas. Under an earn-in agreement, I-Pulse will assume operational control and funding of the Millungera Basin Geothermal Project through a capital-light, technology-driven joint venture structure. Sunrise remains a free-carried minority holder of the site, ensuring alignment, continuity and local resourcing, while I-
The Estée Lauder Companies’ Statement on Potential Transaction with Puig23.3.2026 22:15:00 EET | Press release
The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE: EL) confirms that it is in discussions regarding a potential business combination with Puig, in which the two companies would potentially merge their businesses. No final decision has been made, and no agreement has been reached. Unless and until an agreement is signed between the companies, there can be no assurances regarding the deal or its terms. Forward-Looking Statement This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding a potential transaction and the anticipated timing, terms, and completion of any such transaction. Forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and assumptions and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. These risks and uncertainties include, among others, the possibility that no agreement will be reached, tha
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