NEAR announced today that it is becoming the Blockchain Operating System (BOS). The Blockchain Operating System introduces an industry-first category: a common layer for browsing and discovering open web experiences, compatible with all blockchains – making NEAR the entry point to the open web for users and developers alike. 

Today’s Web2 and Web3 are fragmented: Web2 because each account and experience is centralized and controlled by a company, Web3 because each blockchain network is a silo. The BOS solves this for both by offering a way to discover and use experiences with common services including a single identity, user-owned assets, and user-controlled data. Developers gain full composability of frontends and users have full portability of their data and assets. 

The Blockchain Operating System works with any blockchain or Web2 backend and allows seamless access to a wide range of gateways. For end users, the BOS will be one seamless experience, similar to the ease of using a single app, even as users flow between experiences built by different developers or on different chains. For developers, decentralized and composable frontends offer a way to build and launch better apps, faster: forking existing pieces and components, leveraging built-ins like profiles, payments, notifications, and search without needing to host anything themselves. 

“NEAR is more than just a layer-one blockchain, it’s an operating system that will make Web3 usable,” said NEAR Co-Founder and Pagoda CEO Illia Polosukhin, who shared the announcement and vision for the BOS at NEAR Denver, an event during the ETHDenver conference and hackathon. “The goal for NEAR has always been to make Web3 simple. Now we have all the components to deliver on this vision. We already have live examples from the ETH and NEAR ecosystems we are sharing at ETHDenver.”

The Blockchain Operating System launch also features the debut of alpha.near.org, the first preview of a gateway for developers to build on the Blockchain Operating System, and FastAuth, a groundbreaking solution for fast onboarding to the BOS via web login. Alpha.near.org is the first truly composable, easy-to-use multichain frontend for developers, with over 1800 components already live. These are the first key facets of the Blockchain Operating System and will empower developers to deliver better experiences to users. Alpha.near.org and FastAuth were built by Pagoda, the product and engineering company contributing core technology to the NEAR ecosystem. 

FastAuth improves usability and accessibility for a range of end users and is easy for developers to manage. It is mobile-friendly, Pass Key enabled, and doesn’t require a crypto wallet to activate, while still enabling decentralized ownership – using human-readable account names that also keep power in the hands of users. FastAuth makes onboarding easier and faster than any Web3 solution today, and even most Web2 onboarding experiences. All of this is possible without ever needing a seed phrase or password, and it only needs to be done once: a single, secure, streamlined login for the entire web. 

The BOS is a truly decentralized, community-driven effort with contributions from many teams across the NEAR ecosystem. Pagoda, the NEAR Foundation, and other teams from the NEAR ecosystem will build the BOS through 2023. Today’s announcement launches key developer products to power the future of building experiences on the open web. With the BOS, NEAR becomes a gateway to Web3 for the full range of software developers, whether they are from mobile web, Web2, Ethereum, Polygon, or any other blockchain ecosystem. 

“We’re excited for the Blockchain Operating System to accelerate mainstream adoption and showcase the technical excellence of NEAR,” said Marieke Flament, NEAR Foundation CEO. “By offering solutions to make all of Web3 more accessible to everyone, we can achieve a truly multichain future that delivers real value to people.”