NEAR Protocol has unveiled a technology called Chain Signatures that allows smart contracts to sign transactions across any blockchain without relying on cross-chain bridges, according to an Aug. 8 statement shared with CryptoSlate.

Chain Signatures allows NEAR account holders to interact with nearly any blockchain – including Bitcoin, Ethereum (and any EVM chain), Dogecoin, XRP, Cosmos, and Polkadot. The blockchain network plans to expand support to Solana, TON, and others by the end of the year.

Additionally, the feature supports bridgeless Omnichain DeFi and the creation of Omnichain tokens – a token that can be issued on multiple chains.

Chain signatures

The technology uses an innovative threshold signature protocol. NEAR’s MPC nodes sign transactions on behalf of users, eliminating the need for multiple cross-chain bridges or separate accounts and wallets. This eliminates the need for NEAR users to manage different native tokens for gas fees.

Additionally, it improves the DeFi experience and expands the liquidity and utility of assets across blockchains. It will also enable DeFi activities on blockchains like Bitcoin that were not originally designed to support smart contracts.

Kendall Cole, CEO of Proximity Labs, a key contributor to Chain Signatures, highlighted the technology’s role in solving the fragmented Web3 ecosystem. He added that Chain Signatures would be crucial in overcoming interoperability issues and creating a unified layer for crypto users.

NEAR Protocol co-founder Illia Polosukhin emphasized that Chain Signatures will act as a single DeFi layer for all blockchains. Polosukhin noted that this innovation will create new opportunities for Web3 financial applications that will benefit both experienced crypto users and newcomers.

He added:

“There is no longer a need for dozens of wallets and addresses, manual bridging, and paying gas fees for each token. Instead, DeFi is accessible wherever users already are. This is all possible because smart contracts can now sign transactions for any blockchain, even Bitcoin.”

Chain Signatures has already gained traction, with over 6 million users adopting the technology across 15 projects.

Mentioned in this article