NEAR Protocol price prediction: Experts remain bullish on NEAR
NEAR saw a tenfold increase in value last year, but faltered in 2022’s bear market – so what’s next?
Contents
- Overview of NEAR Protocol
- NEAR Protocol price prediction – Founders
- NEAR price prediction – whitepaper
- NEAR coin past performance
- Expert opinion
- Final thoughts
- FAQs
A crypto platform commonly branded the Ethereum Killer, NEAR Protocol has attracted significant attention and exposure since the launch of the token at the end of 2020. With sizeable investment from major crypto players including Andreessen Horowitz and Coinbase Ventures, plus a ballooning market cap, NEAR has clearly excited the market.
Before looking at a NEAR Protocol price prediction for this year and beyond, let’s have a brief overview.
Overview of NEAR Protocol
A Delegated Proof-of-Stake layer one blockchain, NEAR Protocol is on a mission to create an ecosystem that is usable, scalable and accessible to society at large. It was designed as a community-run cloud computing platform, and has developed a number of features in an attempt to solve the problems which plague most blockchains: low transaction speeds, blockchain bloat, poor interoperability, inaccessible interfaces and low throughput.
NEAR Protocol uses a type of sharding called Nightshade which, according to the company’s literature, can process 100,000 transactions per second (tps). Compared to Ethereum 1.0, which can only process 15tps, and blockchains like Bitcoin, which can only process 5tps-7tps, NEAR Protocol’s technology, if able to deliver in the long term, could be a gamechanger.
Unlike most blockchains, user experience appears to be a core part of NEAR Protocol’s strategy. Instead of having an opaque wallet address, participants have a human-readable name. This feature could make blockchain and crypto more accessible, and less confusing to non-tech people who want to get involved.
The mission of the NEAR Collective, as stated on the project’s website, is to create an ecosystem that is “secure enough to manage high-value assets like money or identity, and performant enough to make them useful for everyday people”.
NEAR Protocol price prediction – Founders
The project was developed by Illia Polosukhin and Alexander Skidanov in 2017 in San Francisco, California.
Skidanov studied computer science in Russia and later worked as a software developer in the United States. Polosukhin studied applied maths and computer science in Ukraine and previously worked for Google as an engineering manager.
NEAR price prediction – whitepaper
According to the NEAR whitepaper, the project is: “A complex technology with a simple goal – allow developers and entrepreneurs to easily and sustainably build applications which secure high-value assets like money and identity while making them performant and usable enough for consumers to access.
“To do this, NEAR is built from the ground up to deliver intuitive experiences for end-users, scale capacity across millions of devices and provide developers with new and sustainable business models for their applications. In doing so, NEAR is creating the only community-run cloud strong enough to extend the reach of Open Finance and power the future of the Open Web.”
While NEAR Protocol’s offering is certainly compelling, how does this affect the NEAR Protocol price prediction? Does the project have legs in the long term? Let’s take a look at the coin’s past performance.
NEAR coin past performance
The NEAR coin, according to CoinMarketCap, experienced an immediate surge after its launch in 2020, rising from $0.6067 on 2 November 2020 to $4.8093 on 13 February 2021, then rising again to $7.4116 on 13 March 2021.
The NEAR coin price hit a bearish market in the succeeding months, dropping to $1.68 on 20 July. From August, however, the NEAR coin price rose again, hitting $10.37 on 8 September 2021. Despite significant volatility, the NEAR cryptocurrency reached $12.32 on 25 October 2021. After a brief drop in price to $7.344 on 5 December 2021, the NEAR coin price subsequently reached record highs, peaking at $16.43 on 3 January 2022.
By 14 January, the coin had reached a new all-time high of $20.38. However, the price subsequently retreated to a low of $7.59 on 24 February. The coin rose soon after, however, to close at $11.8 on 1 March, before dropping to $9.58 on 8 March 2022.
In March, the coin began to rise, surging to highs of $14.67 by 30 March 2022, before ascending to $19.64 on 8 April 2022.
On 23 February, NEAR published further positive news on its Twitter feed, announcing that a major blockchain analytics firm now supports the NEAR ecosystem, no doubt helping bolster coin performance.
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In April, Coinbase announced plans to add a NEAR listing to its roadmap, prompting a flurry of attention. However, after multiple market-wide crashes, the token met a new 10-month low of $2.90 on 18 June.
Since then, there have been some significant uptrends. NEARCON 2022, NEAR Ecosystem’s flagship event, has been in full swing and, as of 11 August, the token is trading at $5.81.
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The NEAR coin has a maximum supply of one billion coins and a circulating supply of 756 million. With each coin currently valued at $5.81, the NEAR protocol has a market cap of $4.4bn.
So how does this information affect a NEAR price prediction for 2022?
Let’s look at what the experts think.
Expert opinion
It is important, when looking at predictions, to remember that while they can be helpful as an indicator of which direction the price may move, they should be viewed as possibilities rather than absolutes. This is especially the case when looking at long-term forecasts, as these can sometimes be completely off the mark, due to the inherent volatility of the crypto market and the many unknowns which could affect future prices.
With that in mind, let’s look at some NEAR Protocol crypto price predictions.
WalletInvestor optimistically suggests that NEAR Protocol could surge to $6.59 in a year’s time. The platform’s NEAR Protocol coin price prediction for five years’ time is $11.75.
Gov Capital offers an even more bullish NEAR Protocol price prediction for 2022, suggesting a closing value of $22.02 on 31 December. The site also states the token could be worth $33 in a year’s time, and $238.20 in five years.
DigitalCoinPrice, in a more subdued forecast, believes that the NEAR Protocol price could be $7.50 in 2022 before increasing to an average of $8.47 in 2023. The website’s NEAR Protocol price prediction for 2025 stands at $11.30, but $10.44 in 2026. The site believes there will be a consistent year-on-year uptrend, making a NEAR Protocol price prediction for 2030 of $26.38
Final thoughts
With sky-high forecasts, an ambitious offering and the potential of becoming a real competitor to Ethereum, the future certainly looks bright for the NEAR Protocol.
However, with the crypto sector as volatile and uncertain as it is, a lot remains to be seen, both in terms of whether the NEAR technology holds up when demand grows and whether crypto as a sector enters the mainstream. If regulation hits crypto hard, or if macroeconomics leads to a dip in valuations of all cryptos regardless of their supposed utility, the coin will be affected.
FAQs
Is NEAR Protocol a good investment?
Many analysts think it may be a very good investment. Do remember, however, that the crypto market is highly volatile and the price of all tokens and coins can go down as well as up.
Will NEAR Protocol go up?
Many analysts think the coin will go up, with some forecasters suggesting it to be worth over $200 per coin in five years’ time. DigitalCoinPrice assumes the coin has longevity and makes a NEAR Protocol price prediction for 2030 of $26.38.
Estimates vary wildly, and it is important to keep in mind that an uptrend is not certain. Forecasts are better viewed as suggestions rather than absolutes because they do not factor in all current or emerging market conditions.
Should I invest in NEAR Protocol?
That is something for you to decide: investing is a highly personal endeavour. Do your own research and try to keep up to date with any developments within the NEAR Protocol ecosystem that could boost or harm its prospects.
Remember, investing can be risky, and it is important never to invest more money than you can afford to lose.
