NEAR today announced it has joined Ledger Live, enabling users to send, receive and stake (powered by Figment) their NEAR tokens through the Ledger Live app. Ledger Live is an all-in-one digital asset management app enabling users to buy, sell, swap, stake & grow their digital assets, manage their NFTs and seamlessly access an ever-growing range of Web3  apps. This secure and convenient app allows users to explore the Web3 galaxy while preserving full ownership over their digital assets. 

Staking offers holders of NEAR the ability to earn rewards for delegating their assets to help secure the protocol. The Ledger by Figment validator, accessible from Ledger Live, allows users to easily stake their digital assets without sacrificing self-custody or security. Users can delegate their NEAR to the Ledger by Figment validator and contribute to the protocol's security and receive rewards in the form of NEAR. 

“We are thrilled to help more people enjoy the benefits of self-custody, no matter what their level of crypto experience,” said Marieke Flament, CEO of the NEAR Foundation. “This new partnership will bring even easier and more secure access to cryptocurrency worldwide, as we remain committed to serving as the de facto entry point to Web3 – simplifying the onboarding experience for users even if they have never used crypto, tokens, keys, or wallets.”

Carl Anderson, VP B2C Engineering at Ledger, adds: “I’m pleased to see a crypto player like NEAR join the Ledger ecosystem. This integration highlights what Ledger Live really is: an all-in-one asset management platform where users can manage their digital assets, visualize their NFTs, and explore an ever-growing range of Web3 apps from the security of their hardware wallets.”

Ben Spiegelman, Head of Corporate Development at Figment goes on to say: “It’s our pleasure to keep working with Ledger to offer protocol staking. The NEAR community is now able to earn staking rewards, secure the network, and participate in NEAR network governance while keeping their tokens secure in Ledger’s self-custody solution.” 

The architecture of the NEAR Protocol uses sharding to enable high transaction throughput, with the blockchain broken down into smaller chunks, reducing the burden and computational load on the network. Developers can quickly build and launch dApps through familiar programming languages and detailed documentation, while users can explore Web3 without cryptic addresses or constant confirmation requests.

The excitement continues to build around the potential of the NEAR blockchain. Unlike other networks, NEAR gives software developers easy access to create new crypto applications. The NEAR blockchain is also much faster than Ethereum, the world’s most-used blockchain. It acts as a bridge to other blockchains, allowing for the free flow of assets and communication between networks for the betterment of all.