tl;dr
- Meta Yield platform by Meta Pool to launch soon
- Fundraising for NEAR-based projects through liquid staking with Meta Yield
- De-risking investments in web 3.0 projects with Meta Yield
- Stay tuned for more information!

## De-risking financial investment in web 3

Thanks to the awesome NEAR community, Meta Pool has become the leading liquid staking and a cornerstone element of the NEAR ecosystem, contributing to its decentralization and security.

Always keeping in mind the NEAR ecosystem, committed to making it strive and building on our liquid staking capabilities, Meta Pool has been cooking over the last few weeks a unique new platform that will launch soon and we believe you will like a lot (make sure to follow us on your preferred social network to get the launch news).

Come in Meta Yield!

Meta Yield is a fundraising platform that allows any $NEAR holder to stake their assets in order to financially support web 3.0 projects built on NEAR Protocol by allowing them to receive the staking rewards.

A very simple mechanism that de-risks investments supporting projects, since you are exchanging your future NEAR rewards for a project’s token and you get to keep your NEAR.

## Inspiration to build a fundraising platform

Many of you know that Meta Pool did an IDO last year and while platforms such as Skyward served its purpose, we felt that launchpads work only while markets are hot and optimism is high on blockchain protocols.
When the market cooled down, we have seen some of our fellow platforms and projects fail to fundraise their established goals.

We believe that it is a problem that needs to be solved and we started to work on a way to deliver a solution that will take that risk away from the equation.

However the inherent risks of any project (product-market misfit, bad execution, etc) are not predictable and not under the control of the fundraising platform.

But we do believe that Meta Yield can provide a better experience for backers that want to support platforms being built on NEAR or Aurora, and for project stakeholders that want to build on top of NEAR.

## Less risk and more rewards for NEAR staking

When investing in a project, the main and biggest risk is the potential loss of all the funds allocated to that project.
This is even more true for individuals since they are investing their personal assets.

Meta Pool wanted to remove that initial risk for investors and backers of projects and reduce the frictions related to fundraising for project owners.

That is why we built Meta Yield, a kickstarter for NEAR using staking:

1. Projects that need to fund their project can request an amount of $NEAR that they need to launch their product/app.
2. Users / investors financially back the project by staking their $NEAR and committing all the NEAR rewards from staking to the project in exchange of native tokens from the project.
3. Users / investors get a receipt as an IOU for their $NEAR, so they can claim them after the project has earned all their rewards.

We are very close to launch and we hope that Meta Yield will deliver more benefits to $NEAR token holders and for the NEAR ecosystem at large.

So keep on staking and stay tuned for more information!

A very simple mechanism that de-risks investments supporting projects, since you are exchanging your future NEAR rewards for a project’s token and you get to keep your NEAR.

Fundraising through Liquid Staking with Meta Yield

TLDR;
- $7.5M VC raised
- [$5M Grants Pool](https://github.com/Mintbase/Grants-Program) for projects built using Mintbase + NEAR
- New frontend [launched](https://www.mintbase.io/)
- Come work [with us](https://angel.co/company/mintbase/jobs).

## Global and Strategic Investors

Mintbase is announcing a $12.5 million round in series A funding ($7.5M VC +$5M NEAR grants program) led by Woodstock Fund, and backed by Coinbase Ventures, Libertus Capital, Sino Global Capital, Animoca Brands, Fundamental Labs, Figment, TRGC, and others. Mintbase will use the funding to focus on the developers and entrepreneurs pioneering the new digital economy.

The series A closed with an incredible, global (range from India, China, Hong Kong, Europe, Japan, and the US) and strategic group of investors. We required every investor from the $1M seed in 2020 to this A round to possess one similar attribute: A long term vision of where the decentralized web is heading.

## $5M NEAR + Mintbase Grants Program

The NEAR Foundation awarded $5M to act as a pass-through grants program. Mintbase Grants will be looking for seasoned teams that want to build the next evolution of web 3.0 ticketing, music, and gaming platforms using the [Mintbase developer infrastructure](https://docs.mintbase.io/dev/getting-started). A new and improved user interface will not only make the experience of minting and trading smoother, but also help guide those looking to build on Mintbase’s tools. [Learn more and apply here](https://github.com/Mintbase/Grants-Program).

## Shiny New Interface

Our core build process, and in this order…
- Make it work 🏗
- Make it pretty 💅
- Make it fast 🚄

We launched Mintbase in 2018 on ETH and realized Ethereum doesn't work they way we wanted in 2020. We then re-wrote everything going back to step 1 a few time over. Marcelo Kunze, the design lead is finally getting us past step 2 and Luís Freitas and Rui Santiago are pushing us past step 3.

We now have the foundation to ship super fast, integrate with other projects, and empower the open-source community to contribute to the network. Using our [open-source component library](https://github.com/Mintbase/mintbase-ui), others will be able to build their own marketplaces much easier, comparing the UI elements as the components will grow.

## Future is Sharded, WASM Chains: 😉 NEAR

Blockchains are on the third evolution cycle. First was Bitcoin followed by copies of the chain (Litecoin, Doge, BCH), second was Ethereum with its copies, (xDai, AVA, Polygon). We believe that the obvious third evolution is all about WASM chains like NEAR, Polkadot, and Solana. Although we don’t think Solana is going the right route on its decentralized core, it is proving that developers want WASM. With the latest $350M fundraising announcement, the NEAR ecosystem is about to take off.

## Why NEAR?

Back in 2020, most other NFT platforms saw the hype and built their projects on Ethereum or ETH copy-paste chains. We deployed on ETH in 2018 but saw the legacy future writing on the wall. We stopped and re-wrote every line of code in rust and deployed it on NEAR mainnet in May 2021. We are just getting started.

The only way non-sharded chains will succeed in the near future is if we just think of them as the lesser evil of centralized exchanges, but we are confident that chains without sharding will struggle to hold real value in the future.

Even though we have been building on NEAR for over a year, we are still only using about 10% of the innovative capabilities like connection allowances, private key swapping, and contract function restrictions. If you want to understand why we think NEAR is a better choice than say Optimism or Solana, give this Epicenter podcast a go (Epicenter).

## Putting it All Together

We have always been good at being the first in the NFT space through experimentation and pushing the boundaries of what the decentralized world was capable of achieving at the given times.

Proof of Early Experiments

- 2018 MetaCartel tickets at Berlin Blockchain Week
- 2019 Cryptovoxels Advent Calendar Events all month
- 2020 First NFT platform to use The Arweave Project
- NFT NYC Ticketing
- 2020 Move all efforts to NEAR
- So many experiments with this German festival
- NFTs for redeeming local, wine, skateboards, paint, party invites
- Minting in mass: One million NFTs for deadmau5 (we made it to 600k 😘)
- First to have Metaverse galleries automatically mint off their own contract

We have always stayed true to our decentralized beliefs and will continue to do so. With this series A raise, we now have the firepower to put all the crazy experiments into action, with a focus on the ones we think have real potential.

## What’s Next?!

We have kept our heads down for the most part throughout the hype cycle, not participating in the PFP pumps as we were focused on building core infrastructure on a super new chain. Once people learn the power of owning their own smart contracts and how this can scale, it’s going to get interesting. We want to incentivize people to build their own NFT projects and they are invited to use our toolkit.


Mintbase is announcing a $12.5 million round in series A funding ($7.5M VC +$5M NEAR grants program).

Mintbase Raises $7.5M Series A + $5M Grants Pool to Pioneer Utility NFT Infrastructure

At Burrow, we care about providing the best experience to DeFi users who often feel like they are in the wild, wild west. For this reason, Burrow has undergone two smart contract audits by the independent auditing firm BlockSec between February and March of 2022.

## Scope

The scope of the first audit included:
- The core money market protocol
The scope of the second audit included:
- Upgrade via DAO functionality
- xBRRR token contract and staking logic
The second audit was commissioned to review the added functionality (upgrades and xBRRR) before the protocol was deployed on mainnet.

## Findings

Through the two audits, BlockSec found 7 potential mid to low risk issues in the smart contract, all of which have been fixed before Burrow’s mainnet launch (March 28th, 2022). Additionally, BlockSec has made 8 recommendations with regard to the documentation or design of the protocol, which have all been acknowledged or confirmed by the Burrow team.

For the full reports, see below:
https://github.com/NearDeFi/burrowland/blob/main/blocksec-audit-signed-1.pdf
https://github.com/NearDeFi/burrowland/blob/main/blocksec-audit-signed-2.pdf

## Disclaimer

Audits, though a good practice to maintain security standards and minimize potential risks, are not an end-all-be-all when it comes to protocol security. The completed audit of specific contracts does not equate to the security of the entire protocol, and does not relate to other layers of risk such as runtime pricing or the human influence on protocols. Moreover, security does not mean the elimination of risk inherent in financial products: always do your own research and manage risk appropriately.

Burrow has undergone two smart contract audits by the independent auditing firm BlockSec between February and March of 2022.

Burrow Has Been Audited

Dearest Penguins,

Impossible is a big believer in providing more crypto opportunities to users throughout the market. That’s why we are excited to announce that our Aurora x Lending project will be Aurigami!

Aurigami is a native money market on Aurora where users can Lend, Borrow and Earn with ease. The team aspires to build the foundation for a thriving defi ecosystem, just as how BenQi is to Avalanche and Solend is to Solana. You can learn more about Aurigami by checking out their [whitepaper](https://docs.aurigami.finance/). More details, insights and whitelist activities will be shared over the next few weeks across both Impossible and Aurigami channels.

[Participate in the IDO via the Impossible Launchpad](https://invest.impossible.finance/launchpad)
[Learn how to use the Impossible Launchpad](https://impossiblefinance.notion.site/How-to-use-IF-Launchpad-Step-by-step-f049de0b1dc44ac898c163c1094a7c1a)

## Subscription Timeline:

- **KYC Preparation Period**: Rolling ongoing basis. Users can submit their information and pass KYC anytime during the entire IDO timeline. Only users that have completed KYC & are from accepted countries will be able to participate in this sale.

- **Staking Period**: 14/04/2022 02:00 PM (UTC) to 03/05/2022 10:00 AM (UTC). After completing KYC, stake IDIA into Impossible’s Launchpad staking contract which will record user’s staked IDIA balances. User’s IDIA balance will be captured onchain, and allocation is calculated based on the amount staked and the length of time staked relative to all participating users.

- **Purchase Period**: 03/05/2022 02:00 PM (UTC) to 04/05/2022 02:00 PM (UTC). Subscription will open at this time for all eligible users for 24 hours. Users may elect to purchase any amount of PLY up to the allocation derived from the staking period.

- **Claiming Period**: No earlier than 05/05/2022. Exact timing and details to be confirmed by Aurigami closer to the time. Users will be airdropped the PLY tokens via the Aurora network.

## Aurigami Token Sale Details:

- Token Ticker: PLY
- Launchpad Sale Hard Cap: 550,000 USD (split into multiple pools)*
        - Standard pool: 250,000
        - Unlimited pool: 250,000
        - Whitelist allocation: 50,000
- Token Vesting: 100% distributed on day 1
- Token distribution: Airdropped directly to your Aurora wallet.
- Total Token Supply: 10,000,000,000 PLY
- Day 1 Circulating Market Cap: TBD
- Tokens Allocated to Impossible Launchpad: 110,000,000
- Public Sale Token Price: 1 PLY = 0.005 BUSD
- Listing Price: USD $0.005
- Token Sale Format: Staking Subscription
- Sector: DeFi
- Supported Staking Tracks: IDIA staking only
- Learn more via PLY [Medium](https://medium.com/aurigami) and [Whitepaper](https://docs.aurigami.finance/)
- **KYC requirements**: Residents from countries or regions such as US, Mainland China, and UN-sanctioned countries are excluded from participating.

## Launchpad Pools (Sale cards)

For Aurigami (PLY) IDO, we will be having 2 sale cards to cater to different users:

- **Standard Sale**: Stake limit — Users can stake a maximum of 10,000 IDIA tokens at any one time as consideration for allocation. The maximum PLY a user is able to purchase is capped at the user’s allocation which is calculated after the staking period.
- **Unlimited Sale**: No stake limit — Users can stake any amount of IDIA at any time as consideration for allocation. The maximum PLY a user is able to purchase is capped at the user’s allocation which is calculated after the staking period.
- **Whitelist Allocation Sales**: Users can participate in our upcoming whitelist marketing campaigns and complete community-oriented tasks to stand a chance at winning guaranteed PLY allocation. Stay tuned to the Impossible Finance social media channels and for more details!

## How to purchase IDIA Tokens

If users do not have IDIA tokens yet for the PLY IDO, you can purchase it via the below venues:
- [Impossible Swap](https://swap.impossible.finance/#/swap) (Swap Guide)
- [PancakeSwap](https://pancakeswap.finance/swap?inputCurrency=0xe9e7CEA3DedcA5984780Bafc599bD69ADd087D56&outputCurrency=0x0b15ddf19d47e6a86a56148fb4afffc6929bcb89)
- [OpenSwap](https://www.openswap.xyz/#/swap?chainId=56&fromToken=BUSD&toToken=IDIA&fromAmount=1&showOptimizedRoutes=true) (Optimal way to find the best on-chain swap options)
- [MEXC](https://www.mexc.com/exchange/IDIA_USDT)

## Token Allocation Calculation

- The token sale for PLY will follow the standard Impossible Launchpad staking subscription format whereby users’ stakeWeight is calculated based on the proportional amount of IDIA they stake and the duration they stake relative to the total amount and staking duration of the entire pool, with users’ staked IDIA balances recorded at the start of the stake period.
- This design is currently selected to ensure that all users can have a proportionate access into the PLY token depending on which pool they enter into. As we develop the Impossible launchpad product offering, we will enable other fair, smart allocation mechanisms which will further decentralize token distribution.

## KYC Details

- KYC Preparation Period: Rolling ongoing basis. We require 50 IDIA or 25 IF tokens to start KYC to prevent bots from spamming our KYC partner. Users can KYC anytime during the entire IDO timeline, but will not be able to stake until their KYC is completed. To maximize the staking utility of users’ IDIA, users have to pass KYC before the staking period begins. In other words:
- If users pass KYC after the end of the staking period, they will miss the opportunity to participate
- If users pass KYC during staking period, they will only be able to stake for the remaining staking period and receive a lesser allocation than if they were to start staking from the beginning of the staking period

Impossible is a big believer in providing more crypto opportunities to users throughout the market. That’s why we are excited to announce that our Aurora x Lending project will be Aurigami!

The Impossible Finance IDO #12 — Aurigami Token Sale

We are thrilled to announce our latest bridge between Polygon and NEAR Protocol!

With the assistance of our friends from QuickSwap, Allbridge enables the first NEAR pool on Polygon, allowing users to conveniently swap between NEAR and Matic. It also provides a new bridge opportunity between Polygon, NEAR Protocol, and Solana networks.
Our team has prepared a [step-by-step guide](https://docs.allbridge.io/guides/how-to-transfer-near-from-near-to-polygon) on how to bridge NEAR to Polygon so head over to our GitBook if you want to get some valuable tips.

Seamlessly transfer NEAR between chains with Allbridge and explore the Polygon ecosystem by visiting QuickSwap!

We are thrilled to announce our latest bridge between Polygon and NEAR Protocol!

Allbridge Enables NEAR Transfers Between NEAR Protocol and Polygon

Sweatcoin, the London-based tech company on a mission to inspire a healthier planet by incentivizing people to move more, has partnered with the NEAR Foundation to launch SWEAT, a radical new token. 

Designed to truly unlock the power of movement, this revolutionary cryptocurrency is minted purely by steps. With more than 63 million users who’ve walked over 19 trillion steps and 600+ brand partners who provided over $200 million worth of goods in Q4’21 alone, SWEAT represents one of the most significant steps in mobilizing the new movement economy. 

“Sweatcoin was founded with a vision to create a new economy of wealth through health,” says Anton Derlyatka, Co-founder at Sweatcoin. “For every 1,000 steps you take, you earn a Sweatcoin that can be redeemed for goods and services in the app from brands including Sonos and Reebok, or to donate to important charities such as Save the Children via Sweatcoin for Good.” 

By building the token on top of NEAR’s super-fast, incredibly secure, and infinitely scalable blockchain, SWEAT will be a unique showcase of a blockchain working at scale without fuss. 

“From the start, there was also a greater ambition: to make a global, open cryptocurrency, to more tangibly realize the value of movement,” says Derlyatka. “Blockchain wasn’t sophisticated or fast enough back in 2015, but thanks to NEAR, it is now.  SWEAT: the token turbocharges our mission to create an Open Economy of Movement for  a billion people.” 

“One of NEAR’s core missions is to help onboard the world to Web3, collaborating with SweatCoin allows us to take a step closer to that mission.” says Marieke Flament, NEAR Foundation’s CEO. 

## How SWEAT token works

To get started, users download the Sweatcoin app, which allows them to assign value to their movement. As people walk, run, or otherwise move, the Sweatcoin app verifies steps as a Movement Validator. 

Eventually, the Sweatcoin Foundation will decentralize this movement verification process to enable other apps and wearables to verify new forms of movement. Users will then be able to earn SWEAT by swimming, cycling, hiking, working out, rowing, and more. 

Sweatcoin already has more than 63 million users who have walked over 20 trillion steps, which means SWEAT will become harder to mint over time. So, the earlier people walk, the more SWEAT they can receive, which can then be redeemed for goods and services in the app from 300+ brand partners, including Sonos, Reebok, and others. 

## Why Sweatcoin is incentivizing movement

The World Health Organization (WHO) is targeting 2025 as the year to halt obesity. However, recent global estimates suggest no country will meet this target—instead, obesity rates are expected to double to 1 billion people classified as “clinically obese” by 2030. 

Sweatcoin intends to change this troubling trend by incentivizing people’s health and well-being. In doing so, the app aims to create a societal shift where people feel empowered and motivated to improve their health through reward. 

“The inherent issue with traditional cryptocurrency is that you have to use your own money,” adds Oleg Fomenko, Co-founder at Sweatcoin. “While SWEAT will be available to purchase, the key difference is that for everyday users, you invest your steps, which we hope is going to encourage people around the world to want to be more active. We’re investing in the future wellness of our users and literally letting them walk into the world of crypto.”

Sweat Foundation Ltd, in collaboration with Sweatcoin, will launch the SWEAT token this summer. 

Sweatcoin, the London-based tech company on a mission to inspire a healthier planet by incentivizing people to move more, has partnered with the NEAR Foundation to launch SWEAT, a radical new token. 

Sweatcoin Partners with NEAR Foundation to Create a New Movement Economy

DEIP concluded its first public sale of tokens on April 12, filling all of the allocation in less than 45 seconds. This rapid sale is a strong indicator for the demand for DEIP tokens. The sell-out initial DEX offering (IDO) took place for the sale of 8 million tokens (0.2% of total supply).

To stay in keeping with decentralized and shared governance, DEIP launched its first public sale, auctioning off 5.2% of the company. Founded in 2018, DEIP has been funded by private investors, over a dozen venture capitalist firms, and business angels which include the co-founder of EPAM Systems and the CEO of Bitcoin.com.

DEIP’s IDO is taking place in two stages on two different dates and platforms, with the first sale of 0.2% of tokens already concluded and the second due to begin on Skyward.finance on April 15, 2022. From this date, investors will be able to deposit funds to Skyward.finance in NEAR tokens to purchase a share of 5% (200 million tokens) of the company which will be auctioned on Skyward.finance from April 22, 2022.

Those taking part in the sale on Skyward will also receive a bonus airdrop from Octopus Network of 200,000 OCT which is currently worth around $438,000. While the rapid sale of DEIP tokens illustrates the level of demand, there has also been a growing appetite for participation in an auction on Skyward.finance since the last auction took place in January.

As part of both stages of the IDO, 208,000,000 tokens will be sold; 5.2% of all DEIP tokens. Following the IDO, participants in the public sale will receive their tokens at the token generation event with no vesting. 10% of the funds raised will be donated to support humanitarian causes to aid refugees from Ukraine.

DEIP is working on the creator economy and developing the most advanced decentralized protocol for it. DEIP aspires to establish it as a core infrastructure for realizing the full potential of creators all across the world. The DEIP creator economy protocol allows intangible assets to be discovered, evaluated, licensed, and traded. It was created with intangible asset tokenization (F-NFT), governance (through DAO), and liquidity in mind (via DeFi instruments and derivatives).

The Web3-meets-creator-economy company sold 8 million tokens in the first round of their IDO. The next round begins with the deposit period opening on April 15 on Skyward.finance.

DEIP IDO on Skyward begins April 15, 2022

- Sender Wallet announced seed round financing from Binance Labs and MetaWeb Ventures; the investment will help the Sender team to expand its development and ecosystem team.
- Sender is currently the leading browser extension wallet of NEAR Protocol with the highest level of security. It currently supports four mainstream browsers. The team expects to launch a mobile wallet in Q2 2022;
- Sender is launching a campaign in mid-April to create “.near” accounts for more than 1 million users for free. Sender will also launch weekly NFT airdrops and NEAR giveaways on Twitter and other social platforms to onboard mainstream users to crypto.

Sender Wallet announced its seed round financing from Binance Labs and MetaWeb Ventures today. The investment will help the Sender team to expand its R&D personnel, build global communities and accelerate its ecosystem growth.

Sender Wallet is a non-custodial wallet built on NEAR Protocol. Its one-stop wallet management solution supports a variety of built-in features such as send/receive, instant swap, NFT gallery, and staking.

Currently, Sender Wallet’s browser extension has supported four mainstream browsers: Chrome, Brave, Edge, and Kiwi, integrating top projects across the NEAR ecosystem. Through its browser plug-in, users can enjoy a seamless experience exploring the NEAR Dapp ecosystem.

In the near future, Sender will release the following upgrades:

Strengthening security level.

- With SlowMist’s security audit in April, Sender will work with well-known security audit companies to jointly create a blacklist of fraudulent and suspicious addresses/accounts on NEAR. Meanwhile, Sender will add integration to hardware wallets like Ledger in the next version.

Releasing native mobile wallets for Android and iOS.

- Sender will release mobile wallets for Android and iOS in Q2 2022;

Aurora & Multichain Support.

- Sender plans to support Aurora and other EVM chains starting in Q2 2022

Integrating more NEAR ecosystem DApps

- Sender has integrated and partnered with the largest DEX on NEAR — ref.finance, the largest NFT market on NEAR — Paras.id, as well as the largest DAO platform AstroDAO. In the future, Sender will integrate more NEAR ecosystem projects.

Global Community Building.

- Sender will launch a campaign in mid-April to create .near accounts for more than 1 Million users for free; it will also launch weekly NFT airdrops and NEAR giveaways on Twitter and other socials to help more new users enter the web3 world.

“NEAR has always placed a great focus on making blockchain and crypto easy to use, so even mainstream users who are not familiar with crypto yet can be onboarded. As a result, The NEAR ecosystem has been growing at an amazing pace over the past year. With the official launch of Sender Wallet, we hope to provide NEAR users a more secure asset management with a fast, smooth user experience.” said Kenny, founder of Sender Labs.

Nicole Zhang, Investment Director at Binance Labs, said: “We have been very impressed by Sender Wallet’s growth since its launch, we also see it as important infrastructure and the ecological entrance of the NEAR ecosystem, which is why we choose to support Sender Wallet.“

“With the latest $350M fundraising announcement, the NEAR ecosystem is about to take off. An easy-to-use yet secure wallet like Sender has been something that the global community of NEAR has been longing for. We are honored to support Sender alongside Binance Labs to become the largest wallet of NEAR, Aurora, and beyond” said Amos, Founding Partner of Metaweb Ventures.

Sender Wallet announced its seed round financing from Binance Labs and MetaWeb Ventures today.

Sender Wallet Announces Seed Round Financing from Binance Labs and MetaWeb Ventures

Everything you do on [mintbase](http://mintbase.io/), you can do via code. That’s what mintbase is all about. Still, if you are not a coder, like me who is writing to you, this does not make us jump right in, does it?

Gladly for us, this can be done easily even by non coders. Learn how in this article :)

The fact that everyone can interact with mintbases open source contracts means that DAOs on NEAR can do anything they want on mintbase — via custom function calls.

What are Custom Function Calls (CFC)? A way to insert code into proposals on the [AstroDAO](https://app.astrodao.com/) Dapp — which will fire up actions on [mintbaseJS.](https://github.com/mintbase)

So DAOs can — mint NFTs, buy NFTs, transfer NFTs, burn NFTs, list NFTs for sale, create smart contracts, add minters to that smart contract, remove minters from that smart contract, send funds to that smart contract, and even transfer the ownership of the smart contract to another wallet or DAO.

This means that the funds used will not be of the user / proposer of the function call — but the DAOs.

Every store on mintbase is its own smart contract. You can interact with this smart contract via the mintbase.io UI. Or — you know it by now — via code.

There are **two options for DAOs to act on top of the smart contracts**. Either the DAO is added as a minter via the UI, or the DAO is the creator of the smart contract.

This article is divided into 12 parts,

1.  How to create a custom function call
2.  How to get the information needed (method name, JSON)
3.  Buy NFT
4.  Mint NFT
5.  Transfer NFT
6.  Burn NFT
7.  List NFT for Simple Sale
8.  List NFT in an Auction
9.  Create a Smart Contract = Store on Mintbase
10.  Add minters to that Contract
11.  Remove minters from the Contract
12.  Transfer Store Ownership to a wallet or a DAO

## 1\. How to create a custom function call on AstroDAO?

When you go to app.astrodao.com and select any DAO — we will be using the [MintbaseDAO](https://app.astrodao.com/dao/mintbase.sputnik-dao.near) as an example here, you will be confronted with the following visual

![](https://miro.medium.com/max/1400/0*BBboFazrf-piqzrN)

Clicking on the green plus will open another window which is by default: Propose a Transfer.

We do not want to propose transfer now — we are looking into CUSTOM FUNCTION CALLS — which is the last option when clicking on “Propose a Transfer”.

When you click custom function call you will see this template:

![](https://miro.medium.com/max/1400/0*plXCKMQuvTy3QKnY)

Above you can see several fields that need to be filled in:

*   The description (free for you to choose)
*   A link (purple) to insert (optional)
*   The smart contract address on which the action should be fulfilled
*   The method name you want to realize
*   The JSON — the bit of code needed
*   The deposit — how much near that action will cost — will be taken off the DAOs treasury
*   The Tgas (2x) — gas needed for the transaction

Important note: only the **last vote** — which will effectively realize the action you are trying to take — will actually interact with the mintbase protocol. Therefore the last vote often needs more gas than the normal voting votes if that makes sense :). So keep in mind that you can use 300tgas for the last vote for pretty much every CFC.

## 2\. How to get the bits of code you need to create your custom function call:

This article is supposed to be a cheat sheet so you do have a place to verify that the JSON and method name you are using are right. Still — for every custom function call described here, you will need to do a certain set of steps:

You need to have a near wallet

You need to sign in to mintbase with that near wallet

You need to pretend to do any action you want to via the DAO with that individual wallet. (Minting, listing for sale, anything you want to do really)

Then, when you click mint, deploy, transfer, list, etc, you’ll be redirected to the near wallet page.

Click “more information” below the transaction costs and your ballance

![](https://miro.medium.com/max/1400/0*P6F3Wc-yMwz_6S37)

Click on the method name (make\_offer, nft\_batch\_mint, create\_store, etc)

The JSON will be displayed. Copy everything without the word ‘Arguments’. From “{“ to “}”.

## 3\. Buy NFT

Right now **AstroDAO already offers a default buy NFT on mintbase function** (YAYYYY). You will need to click on custom and select “Buy NFT on Mintbase.”

![](https://miro.medium.com/max/1400/0*JpkfQQmTj1-7IYSD)

Here you need to fill in:

Description

*   (whatever you want to write there… example: Buying NFT from X)

Token Key

*   you will need to get in the wallet, in the JSON, like described above…

![](https://miro.medium.com/max/1036/0*fXGEzMqRQsg7RkXk)

Here you can see that the token key is: 7070:gambiarra.mintbase1.near, which you will need to insert into the astrodao.

Deposit: Value of the NFT to be bought. You can deposit a little bit more

Tgas x2: 100

Last vote 300

[Link of a successful buy](https://app.astrodao.com/dao/cfcsmintbase.sputnik-dao.near/proposals/cfcsmintbase.sputnik-dao.near-37)

## 4\. Mint NFT

If you want to Mint on Mintbase via the DAO, **the DAO needs to be added as a minter** via the UI or via CFC. CFC only makes sense if a DAO is the owner of the store — because only the owner can access the settings — in other words: has the right to change the smart contracts proprieties.

When you mint an NFT on Mintbase via CFC, you need to actually go to mintbase.io, realize the action you want to do but not approve it. Instead of approving it, you will click on more information and discover the method name & the JSON.

You can change some things about the JSON. For example, you can change the owner\_id and the num\_to\_mint. I would not recommend messing around with it too much though…

An example:

*   Method name:

nft\_batch\_mint

*   JSON

{  
“owner\_id”: “mariamneu.near”,“metadata”: {“reference”: “cY7KvY5ncw9JrbPkSuk3gSnJqd5eKcM\_K87YvY1fgbg”,“extra”: null},“num\_to\_mint”: 1,“royalty\_args”: {“split\_between”: {“mintbase2.near”: 3000,“mariamneu.near”: 7000},“percentage”: 1000},“split\_owners”: {“mintbase2.near”: 3000,“mariamneu.near”: 7000}}

*   Smart contract: the store you want to mint it on. In this case it was reginamintbase.mintbase1.near
*   Tgas: 30 (in both Tgas fields)
*   Deposit: 0,1N

**Last vote 300 gas**

[Link to a successful mint.](https://app.astrodao.com/dao/cfcsmintbase.sputnik-dao.near/proposals/cfcsmintbase.sputnik-dao.near-25)

## 5\. Transfer NFT
================

The DAO needs to OWN the NFT to be able to transfer it to someone/someDAO else. You can transfer the NFT to the DAO via the Mintbase UI really easily.

*   Method name

nft\_transfer

*   JSON:

{  
“receiver\_id”: “mintbase2.near”,“token\_id”: “24”}

*   Smart contract: where the NFT was minted on. In this case: reginamintbase.mintbase1.near
*   Tgas 30
*   Deposit : 1 yoctoNEAR (0,000000000000000000000001 )

Last vote was 300

[Link to successful transfer](https://app.astrodao.com/dao/cfcsmintbase.sputnik-dao.near/proposals/cfcsmintbase.sputnik-dao.near-38)

## 6\. List — Simple Sale

The DAO you are proposing to needs to own the NFT to be able to list it.

*   Method name

nft\_approve

*   JSON:

{“token\_id”: “3”,“account\_id”: “market.mintbase1.near”,“msg”: “{\\”price\\”:\\”5000000000000000000000000\\”,\\”autotransfer\\”:true}”}

*   Smart contract: the store the NFT was minted on. In this case it was reginamintbase.mintbase1.near
*   Tgas 200
*   Deposit 0.00081

Last vote 300

[Link to a successful list.](https://app.astrodao.com/dao/cfcsmintbase.sputnik-dao.near/proposals/cfcsmintbase.sputnik-dao.near-17)

## 7\. List — Auction

DAO needs to own the NFT to be able to list it.

*   Method name

nft\_approve

*   JSON

{  
  “token\_id”: "3",  
  "account\_id": "market.mintbase1.near",  
  "msg”:    “{\\”price\\”:\\”4000000000000000000000000\\”,\\”autotransfer\\”:false}”}

*   Smart contract: the store the NFT was minted on. In this case it was reginamintbase.mintbase1.near
*   Tgas 200
*   Deposit 0.00081

Last vote 300 gas

[Link to successful list for auction](https://app.astrodao.com/dao/cfcsmintbase.sputnik-dao.near/proposals/cfcsmintbase.sputnik-dao.near-19)

## 8\. Burn

DAO needs to own the NFT to be able to burn it.

*   Method name:

nft\_batch\_burn

*   JSON:

{  
  “token\_ids”: \[“79”\]  
}

*   Smart contract: the store the NFT was minted on. In this case it was reginamintbase.mintbase1.near
*   Deposit: EXACTLY one yoctonear. 0,000000000000000000000001
*   Gas 200

**Last vote 300**

[Link to successful CFC](https://app.astrodao.com/dao/cfcsmintbase.sputnik-dao.near/proposals/cfcsmintbase.sputnik-dao.near-27)

## 9\. Create store

The funds will go from the DAO, so the DAO needs to have 12N to create a store. 6.5 for the store and there always need to be 5N in the treasury.

Store name & Symbol needs to be small letters.

Change the owner\_id to your DAOs address (example: mintbase.sputnik-dao.near) if you want your DAO to own the store.

If you keep the personal wallet in there you will be the owner of the store but the daos treasury will have been used for it.

*   Method name:

create\_store

*   JSON:

{“owner\_id”: “**YOUR DAO.near**”,“metadata”: {“spec”: “nft-1.0.0”,“name”: “**nameofyourstore**”,“symbol”: “**up to four letters/numbers**”,“icon”: “data:image/x-icon;base64,AAABAAEAEBAQAAEABAAoAQAAFgAAACgAAAAQAAAAIAAAAAEABAAAAAAAgAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAJCT/AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAEQAAEQAAAAEAEAEAEAAAAQAQAQAQAAAAEREREQAAAAAAEAAAAAAAAAAQAAAAAAAAABEQAAEQAAAAEAEAEAEAAAAQAQAQAQAAAAEREREQAAAAAAAAEAAAAAAAAAAQAAAAAAAAERAAAAAAAAEAEAAAAAAAAQAQAAAAAAAAEQAADnnwAA228AANtvAADgHwAA+/8AAPv/AAD48wAA+20AAPttAAD8AwAA/+8AAP/vAAD/jwAA/28AAP9vAAD/nwAA”,“base\_uri”: “https://arweave.net",“reference”: null,“reference\_hash”: null}}

*   Smart contract: mintbase1.near
*   Tgas 200
*   Deposit 6.5

[Link to successful deployment](https://app.astrodao.com/dao/cfcsmintbase.sputnik-dao.near/proposals/cfcsmintbase.sputnik-dao.near-29)

## 10\. Add minter

To add minters to the store, the DAO needs to be the owner of the store/smart contract.

*   Method name

grant\_minter

*   JSON

{“account\_id”: “mintbase2.near”}

*   Smart contract: the store. Example: mintbasestrodao.mintbase1.near
*   Tgas 30
*   Deposit 1 yoctoNEAR, but store might run out of storage stake. 0,000000000000000000000001

[Link to successful addition of a minter](https://app.astrodao.com/dao/cfcsmintbase.sputnik-dao.near/proposals/cfcsmintbase.sputnik-dao.near-33)

## 11\. Remove minter

To remove minters from the store, the DAO needs to be the owner of the store/smart contract.

*   Method name

revoke\_minter

*   JSON

{“account\_id”: “mintbasecommunity.near”}

Smart contract: the store. Example: mintbasestrodao.mintbase1.near

*   Tgas 30
*   Deposit 1 yoctoNEAR, 0,000000000000000000000001 but the call actually frees up previously used storage stake

[Link to successful removal of minter](https://app.astrodao.com/dao/cfcsmintbase.sputnik-dao.near/proposals/cfcsmintbase.sputnik-dao.near-32)

## 12\. Transfer store ownership

The DAO needs to own the store to be able to transfer it to another wallet or DAO.

We recommend the store to be owned by an individiual wallet at least at one moment, because there are things you can only do via the UI. For example: adding a store header image, a name to the store, a description of the store, setting up default royalties & revenues, adding links… These are all actions that happen exclusively on the UI, not on the Blockchain. So that’s why CFCs can’t to that.

*   Method name

transfer\_store\_ownership

*   JSON

{“new\_owner”: “mintbase2.near”,“keep\_old\_minters”: true}

*   Smart contract: the store. Example: mintbaseastrodao.mintbase1.near
*   Tgas 30
*   Deposit 1 yoctoNEAR. 0,000000000000000000000001

[Link to a successful store ownership transferral](https://app.astrodao.com/dao/cfcsmintbase.sputnik-dao.near/proposals/cfcsmintbase.sputnik-dao.near-34)

**NOTE**: The yoctoNEAR deposit on some method is an enhanced method of authentication. When you see 1 yoctoNEAR being required, that means we really want you to verify that it’s you calling the method.

Everything you do on Mintbase, you can do via code. That’s what Mintbase is all about. Still, if you are not a coder, like me who is writing to you, this does not make us jump right in, does it?

How can DAOs leverage Mintbase’s toolkit?

March not only marked the first anniversary of Ref Finance [1], but also, the seventh month to have passed since the release of the second version of its core smart contract [2].

During these past seven months, Ref’s TVL has grown from 0 to $100M+, and Ref’s cumulative trading volume has reached $1.6B+.
March was also the month when we saw the NEAR token’s price lead the L1 recovery by growing by ~50% [3]. In addition to this price increase, the total number of NEAR addresses hit 5.2M, a ~140% increase in the first quarter [4].

The infrastructure we are building on is gaining momentum. We are ready to support a new stream of DeFi transactions and our vision is coming to life; make Ref Finance the one-stop DeFi shop on NEAR.

The first quarter of 2022 has been intense and vibrant. Let us dive into what have been achieved and what is next.

## Mind refresher

Do you remember our six pillars for the 2022 roadmap? Here is a fresh wrapup:

- The Future is Decentralised: Promote further decentralisation
- The Double B: Deliver Better prices and Better liquidity utilisation
- Money, Money, Money: Provide LPs with the tooling to maximise profits while mitigating risks (i.e. auto-compounding)
- Better Experience: Improve user experience
- Knowledge is power: Encourage transparency and data-driven decisions
- Bridge Them All: Reduce the gap with other chain communities

Security should be used as a foundation to support and strengthen the pillars.

## What we have committed to vs. delivered

![Ref Quarterly Update: Q1 2022](https://awesome-near.s3.amazonaws.com/ref-quarterly-update-q1-2022-0.jpg)

The last version of the Auto Router (Smart Routing) was deployed on the 18th of March. Not only was it a major achievement [5], but also a unique value proposition delivered to the hands of our users. Most of the 300 active pools [6] can now be used as a bridge/hop, creating a win-win situation for market participants:

- Traders: better prices
- Liquidity Providers: fairer model (vs. winner-takes-all approach) as a trade can be processed across multiple pools at once, spreading the LPs’ revenue accordingly

Single-sided staking went live on the 17th of January. The amount staked has been increasing steadily since its release, and is now above the 2M mark.

![Ref Quarterly Update: Q1 2022](https://awesome-near.s3.amazonaws.com/ref-quarterly-update-q1-2022-1.jpg)

Ref Finance integrated the Sender Wallet. Since March 11th, users have been able to interact with the NEAR blockchain via a browser extension, giving them a metamask-like experience.

There is a one-month delay relating to the release of a liquidity aggregation feature between Aurora, the EVM-compatible blockchain built on top of NEAR, and NEAR. There are two main reasons for this delay, the first being the complexity of such a feature, and the second, being network performance issues, requiring the team to prioritise the maintenance and high-availability of Ref’s servers, to the detriment of the Build/Evol workstream.

The team is now working with a dedicated company, and associated DevOps, to ensure the continued performance and high-availability of the app.

## Other key updates

In terms of Security, the Ref Staking and Exchange contracts [7] were locked on the 12th and 28th of February, respectively. Moreover, the first Audit was completed — the details of which, along with the audit report itself, are publicly available in our documentation.

Following feedback from the community, and in line with our mission to be inclusive, we released the Support Ledger feature on the 23rd of March. Ledger users were facing problems when trading on Ref because the Ledger cannot handle large transactions due to its memory limitation. When activated, the Support Ledger option will limit transactions to their simplest form (to the detriment of more complex transactions, e.g. Auto Router), so transactions of a reasonable size can be signed.

In our goal to ‘bridge them all’, Allbridge was integrated successfully on the 10th of February, opening new liquidity flows and business opportunities (see next section).

We had two major backlog reviews, which took place on the 18th of January and 11th of March. This led to key improvements to the product, which were deployed, along with the Auto Router, on the 18th of March. These improvements include, but are not limited to:

- Showing the USD value Worth of user’s shares in Your Liquidity
- Redirect users to the pool details page after creating a new pool
- Stableswap liquidity added to Your Liquidity view
- TVL and number precision when hovering
- Price impact pop up window for StableSwap

Ref Analytics was upgraded on the 14th of March. Users can now check the APR for every pool in the Top Pools section. Overall performance was improved and new API endpoints were added in this release!

Moreover, our official documentation was completely updated and revamped in March!

Finally, the Vietnamese translation was rolled out on the 28th of February. Special kudos to our Sir Harry to enable Ref to be one step closer to the Vietnamese community!

## The team is growing

Following our successful fundraising in January [8], the team is very glad to have Amy and Gordon, who joined us on the 14th of March and 1st of April, respectively. Amy is an experienced QA Engineer and will assist Willa, the Lead QA Engineer. Gordon is a Senior Backend Dev and will work closely with Marco, the Lead Backend Dev.

The team is now composed of eleven fulltime members!

- Marco: Lead Backend Dev
- Joe: Lead Frontend Dev
- Gordon: Senior Backend Dev
- Max: Fullstack Dev
- Nature: Backend Dev
- Willa: Lead QA Engineer
- Amy: QA Engineer
- Mency: Designer & UX
- Didier: Product Lead
- Harry: Project Assistant Manager
- Fauve: Marketing Lead

## Market updates

Our famous ve$RUST has closed probably one of the hottest DeFi deals in Q1 2022. The partnership with the Celo foundation has opened roughly a $10M liquidity experiment on the following pairs: CELO-NEAR, CELO-REF, and cUSD-USDC, providing more liquidity options to both communities [9].

To leverage the Allbridge integration, Ref has also opened the first SOL-NEAR pair in the NEAR ecosystem (including Aurora), along with the ABR-USDC pool, courtesy of the Allbridge team [10].

The Secret Skellies Society, one of the most successful NFT projects on NEAR, has successfully launched their tokens, which we whitelisted on the 16th of March [11]. They have also joined the Brrr land and have opened the first farm without REF token rewards [12], paving the way for similar proposals in the future!

Note also that we had a wave of new whitelisted tokens in January, starting on the 21st with META [13], the token of the famous NEAR liquid staking solution, followed by other NEAR-native projects in the same month;

## Looking ahead: Q2 and H2 2022

![Ref Quarterly Update: Q1 2022](https://awesome-near.s3.amazonaws.com/ref-quarterly-update-q1-2022-2.jpg)

Three new evolutions have been added to our second quarter roadmap.

The team is working to upgrade the current farming contract [18]. The upgrade is planned for the end of May. The new farming contract will include a feature similar to a Certificate of Deposit (CD) Account.

> A certificate of deposit (CD) is a product offered by banks and credit unions that provides an interest rate premium in exchange for the customer agreeing to leave a lump-sum deposit untouched for a predetermined period of time. [19]

In a nutshell, farmers will be able to lock their LP tokens for a specific time period, in return for a boost to the farming rewards. The longer the locking period, the larger the boost, and vice versa.

In April, the StableSwap will welcome a new pool, empowering DeFi users with more crypto-to-stable and stable-to-stable paths. The total stablecoin supply has increased by 11% year to date, and the share of USDT in the total supply dropped from 66% to 45% in one year [20]. There is no doubt that we need to adapt our ‘stable mix’ offering!

Ref made ‘Recurring Swap’ one of the challenges in the NEAR Hackathon run by Encode [21]. A recurring swap automates buying or selling crypto. Ref’s users will have the option to choose which token they want to buy or sell, how much and how often they want that to happen. Croncat will be the backbone of such an innovative feature!

Auto-compounding and/or DeFi yield aggregators are building on top of Ref Finance. The team is working closely with Pembrock, Fluxus and Xpanse, winner of our Auto-compounding challenge [22] for the NEAR MetaBUILD Hackathon. We are confident that one of the mentioned solutions will reach mainnet in the second quarter. Our role is to support those creators, by providing help and guidance with integrating our smart contracts.

In our goal to facilitate the life of our LPs, we will keep improving the ‘Your Liquidity’ view (cf. Liquidity Management Dashboard) within the app. LPs want more than the execution piece, they want the tools that help them to take data-driven decisions.

With 118 proposals in the first quarter of 2022 alone [23], almost four times the number of proposals in all of 2021, the Ref DAO is one of the most active DAOs in the NEAR ecosystem. xREF holders will very soon be able to participate in the governance of the protocol. The team is currently assessing the Curve vs. Polkadot voting model.

For the second half of 2022, we have added the Ref Software Development Kit (Ref SDK) to the list. As we scale, the team wants the right tools to help creators build on top of Ref! A protocol with high TVL and Volume is good, but having an ecosystem around it, is even better.

![Ref Quarterly Update: Q1 2022](https://awesome-near.s3.amazonaws.com/ref-quarterly-update-q1-2022-3.jpg)

## Conclusion

Annualised liquidity utilisation, or capital efficiency, is the ratio Volume to TVL. Ref’s is approx. 27, compared to 23 for the top twenty-one DEXes and 21 for the top three DEXes [24]. In other words, Ref’s LPs earn on average an estimated 6% APR (not incl. liquidity incentives), which is 17% more than the top twenty-one DEXes’ LPs, and 28% more than the top three DEXes’ LPs.

My goal is not to compare us to the top DEXes, which would be foolish and pretentious (at this stage), but rather to look at the balance between the amount of capital supporting the ecosystem (TVL) and actual, real demand or usage (Volume).

So far, the balance seems acceptable and healthy. As we scale, the REF token circulating supply is increasing (see both graphs below), creating an opportunity to accelerate its own utility within the ecosystem.

Along with its strong focus on the product, the team is also working on a more innovative tokenomics, which aims to strengthen our positioning in the market. Keep your eyes open 👀!

![Ref Quarterly Update: Q1 2022](https://awesome-near.s3.amazonaws.com/ref-quarterly-update-q1-2022-4.jpg)

## Acknowledgments

I would like to give a big thanks to Ben (who contributed significantly to the review of the 2022 roadmap too!), and all the community and DAO members who have helped!

## References
[1] https://github.com/ref-finance/ref-contracts
[2] v2.ref-finance.near
[3] https://twitter.com/Delphi_Digital/status/1508553307907891201
[4] https://twitter.com/NEARWEEK/status/1510973145821417479
[5] https://guide.ref.finance/products/auto-router
[6] https://stats.ref.finance/stats/dex
[7] xtoken.ref-finance.near and v2.ref-finance.near
[8] https://gov.ref.finance/t/a-strategic-ref-otc-wip/448
[9] https://gov.ref.finance/t/connecting-to-celo-using-allbridge/516
[10] https://gov.ref.finance/t/farm-sol-abr/552/3
[11] https://app.astrodao.com/dao/ref-finance.sputnik-dao.near/proposals/ref-finance.sputnik-dao.near-129
[12] https://app.astrodao.com/dao/ref-finance.sputnik-dao.near/proposals/ref-finance.sputnik-dao.near-135
[13] https://app.astrodao.com/dao/ref-finance.sputnik-dao.near/proposals/ref-finance.sputnik-dao.near-50
[14] https://app.astrodao.com/dao/ref-finance.sputnik-dao.near/proposals/ref-finance.sputnik-dao.near-51
[15] https://twitter.com/ekuzyakov/status/1468319473836994568https://app.astrodao.com/dao/ref-finance.sputnik-dao.near/proposals/ref-finance.sputnik-dao.near-51
[16] https://app.astrodao.com/dao/ref-finance.sputnik-dao.near/proposals/ref-finance.sputnik-dao.near-54
[17] https://app.astrodao.com/dao/ref-finance.sputnik-dao.near/proposals/ref-finance.sputnik-dao.near-58
[18] v2.ref-farming.near
[19] https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/certificateofdeposit.asp
[20] https://www.theblockcrypto.com/data/decentralized-finance/stablecoins
[21] https://encodeclub.notion.site/4fadedcd86a3414087730fa1065b3a02?v=36d1fd87ad7b4985898c78ed8d5fdedc
[22] https://metabuild.devpost.com/details/sponsor-challenges#h_1735654753441639496589320
[23] https://app.astrodao.com/dao/ref-finance.sputnik-dao.near/proposals
[24] https://www.theblockcrypto.com/data/decentralized-finance/dex-non-custodial

The first quarter of 2022 has been intense and vibrant. Let us dive into what have been achieved and what is next.

Ref Quarterly Update: Q1 2022

## Wallet Selector Launches on NEAR

Web3 users looking for an easy way to interact with the NEAR blockchain using their wallet of choice now have a slew of options. [Wallet Selector](https://github.com/near/wallet-selector), a new easy-to-navigate pop-up allows users to select their preferred wallet to easily interact with the NEAR Protocol. 

Launched in March 2022 by the NEAR Foundation, this simple modal will appear whenever users are given the option to “Connect Wallet” to the NEAR blockchain. 

Wallet Selector provides developers and builders with new options to connect their projects to NEAR, and in future, will allow mobile apps to connect to the NEAR blockchain seamlessly in just a few clicks. 

## Unlocking the wallet ecosystem 

At launch, Wallet Selector will feature three supported wallets: 

- NEAR Wallet – a simple, easy to use web-based wallet. 
- Sender Wallet – a browser extension available Chrome, Brave, and other browsers.
- Ledger Wallet – the secure hardware wallet that allows users to store their wallet in a secure place. 
- Meteor Wallet – the simple and secure wallet to manage your crypto, access DeFi, and explore NEAR.

Thanks to NEAR’s open and inclusive approach, other wallet developers will be able to contribute to the NEAR ecosystem.

Developers looking to add their wallets, there is documentation and instructions on the [NEAR Github repository](https://github.com/near/wallet-selector).

Wallet Selector, a new easy-to-navigate pop-up allows users to select their preferred wallet to easily interact with the NEAR Protocol. 

Introducing Wallet Selector: A New Tool for the NEAR Ecosystem

We started ChainScore with the aim of addressing one of the most important limitations in Decentralized Finance (DeFi) right now, which is Financial Risk Evaluation. This is mainly due to the unavailability of multi-chain [or cross-platform] credit information which makes DeFi protocols unable to make informed decisions on risk management and treat all participants with the same level of risk.

This is where ChainScore comes in as a middleware — to broker the credit information, form risk analytics, and submit the data back to the smart contract/blockchain. We gather credit data from financial transactions on multiple chains and submit the analysed data in the form of Credit Scores for users, Ratings and Credit Reports for assets/investments, or different risk parameters which would be used by applications to manage risks.

DeFi is limited right now, and ChainScore is bringing value that we’ve been missing to build more structured or secondary markets in DeFi which are not currently possible due to unknown risk and no risk management protocols. We are bringing a similar risk infrastructure from Traditional finance to DeFi, with verifiable and secure data that could be trusted in a decentralized and transparent way.

## Credit Scores

Let’s take a look at one of our offerings “credit scores” which is based on the users’ past transactions, credit history, and cross-platform reputation, examples of standard risk management metrics.

Credit scores have been used for decades in global banking systems for risk evaluation. This is what helps the banks and institutions make informed decisions to be more profitable and offer better loan terms. More importantly, they are a metric of trust and verify the eligibility of their customers.

We see Lending/Borrowing as the main use case to enable markets and DeFi products for a more normalised set of users, which hasn't yet caught up due to over-collateralization and regulation.

Moreover, credit scores are not used just for banking transactions, we see them used at several other places such as—

1. Landlord checking tenant’s credit score before renting you a house to make sure whether they can pay the rent on time or not
2. Employers also check your credit score before hiring employees
3. Insurance companies also check the consumer’s credit score to decide whether they should insure them and at what rate they should give them the insurance

We believe the use of credit scores would also enable access to reputation to build trustful secondary marketplaces in the metaverse.

## Risk Assessment

Identifying and analysing potential risks that may negatively impact accounts, assets, and/or the application, probability of occurrence

- **Market risk**: Relates to incurring a loss due to things like market volatility, hikes in interest rates or costs, fluctuation in values, etc. These risk factors lead to under collateralization of loans, and impermanent losses due to market volatility of the crypto assets used as collateral.
We further divide Market risk into — Interest rate risk, Token risk, Equity risk, Valuation risk, Volatility risk, Systemic risk and Model risk.
- **Credit risk**: Evaluating the probability of the borrower failing to pay back to the creditor. Lending Protocols incur credit risk by extending credit to customers, due to the possibility of them defaulting on payment.
- **Centralisation Risk**: Verification if the token/pool is really decentralised, by checking the number of investment/asset holders and their association. Can any individual or group impact a user’s investment by manipulating oracles, administrative controls, or emergency measures? Centralisation risk tried to cover scams leading to rug pull or dumping from majority holders and Ponzi schemes. ‘Centralization issues’ are the biggest culprits of DeFi attacks: Certik
- **Technological risk**: We analyse several technological parameters. What portion of the code has been audited by reputable firms? Has formal verification been performed? Is the code open source? Is a bug bounty offered? Ensuring all the above measures builds up trust and assurity, that the protocol would be safe from Code Exploits or Thefts

With the above parameters and their probability, we calculate the severity of the value of their consequences. With that we provide, Risk Ratings — which would be used to analyse a more complex range of assets such as Liquidity Pools, Funds, Tokenised Assets, or just applications in general.

Using this Risk Analytics would open up a wide range of DeFi markets, that are not currently possible due to Unknown Risks. The following could be a few use cases:

- Lending/Borrowing using credit scores to verify users. Based on this, the platform could keep the lending pools safer and provide better interest rates for users with good credit history
- Trading Debts/Bonds on Secondary Markets
- Risk Rated DeFi Markets, Marketplaces, Hedge Funds, and much more
- Tranching Assets based on Risk
- Diversifying lender/investor’s portfolio based on Risk
- Building crypto-native indices

## Market

DeFi has seen massive growth in 2020–21 when it was almost 10x to 100B. We believe that this high growth is going to be resulting in new and innovative markets and assets which were not earlier possible due to the unavailability of credit risk management.

We have also seen 2021 to be the peak for losses in DeFi totalling up to 12 Billion USD. We thrive to minimize these losses by providing credit ratings and tools for risk management, making DeFi safer.

Introducing the first Credit Risk Rating Protocol for the next generation DeFi landscape.

What is ChainScore

Orchid’s dVPN is now live on Aurora! That means anyone can use the Orchid dApp by funding it with ETH on Aurora.

Orchid is a decentralized bandwidth marketplace. Buyers use the Orchid app to get protection from snooping ISP’s, unblock websites cutoff by firewalls, and for many other privacy benefits. Sellers receive payments in real-time as they provide service and stake OXT to compete for service requests.

Unlike most VPNs, Orchid is decentralized — meaning there is no server that stores your web browsing data or history. Orchid’s VPN gives you more privacy than any other VPN in the market.

We invite all of you to check out how Orchid’s L2 nanopayment system works when paying $0.06/GB for VPN service. Start by making an account, funding it with ETH on Aurora, and connecting to Orchid’s VPN app.

After connecting a wallet on Aurora, you can specify an Orchid identity to fund. Aurora has low network fees (~0,02$), so moving funds in and out of each account costs effectively nothing. The initial deposit requirement to start using Orchid is also lower on Aurora — currently, the total suggested balance and deposit is about 0.001 ETH, or $2.58 at the time of writing. Refer to our chart to see how the cost of using Orchid on Aurora compares to other blockchains.

## Why Aurora?

Aurora is an Ethereum Virtual Machine created by the team at the NEAR Protocol. The EVM is attractive for Orchid users because the chain currently has extremely low gas fees. So there is almost no fee when moving funds into or out of Orchid’s L2. That makes the chain an interesting option for users who are experimenting with Aurora.

The NEAR protocol is a proof of stake blockchain that is meant to be developer friendly, fast and scalable. Learn more about NEAR here. Ultimately Aurora allows the Orchid nanopayment smart contract to run ontop of NEAR and users funds are held on the NEAR protocol.
With greater activity on the Ethereum network, gas fees have risen and will likely continue to rise. Layer 2 scaling technologies — including Orchid’s probabilistic nanopayments — have popped up to address this problem; as well as separate chains, some with compatibility with Ethereum dapps.

Orchid has adopted a multichain strategy to make its decentralized VPN marketplace affordable and accessible to all.

“We are excited to be working with cutting edge EVM blockchains, like Aurora running on the NEAR protocol. Orchid’s L2 continues to expand support for L1 chains, giving our users more payment options for VPN service and providing probabilistic rollup support at the same time.”

## How to use the Orchid VPN on Aurora

The basic steps to use Orchid on Aurora are detailed [here](https://orchid.com/join). In short:

- Connect your wallet to the Aurora chain and get enough ETH in that wallet for the balance + deposit + funding fee
- Download the Orchid app, add your funding wallet and then select and copy the Orchid identity you want to fund
- Open the dapp at account.orchid.com
- Connect your funding wallet and paste in the Orchid identity
-  Add funds! The app will then have a connected, funded account

[Click here for details](https://doc.aurora.dev/bridge/rainbow-bridge) on how to bridge using the Rainbow bridge to get ETH from Ethereum to Aurora.

## About probabilistic nanopayments, Orchid’s unique Layer 2 solution

Orchid’s unique system of probabilistic nanopayments is an Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM)-compatible Layer 2 solution that enables tiny amounts of money to be sent as off-chain probabilities. The technology is emerging as a new form of rollup, differentiated from zero-knowledge rollups or more traditional rollups. A “probabilistic rollup” allows for many off-chain transactions to be sent that eventually settle using probability. When users buy VPN bandwidth on Orchid, transactions are sent as nanopayments, each of which is worth approximately one one-thousandth (1/1,000) of a penny, depending upon how the account is configured. Probabilistic nanopayments allow Orchid users access to a unique pay-as-you-go model for VPN service. Orchid never charges fixed fees or monthly subscriptions (as many centralized VPNs do), making its bandwidth market truly trustless and decentralized.

Privacy is Orchid’s mission. Probabilistic nanopayments, along with this integration with Aurora, are two critical components of Orchid’s goal of making online privacy accessible to people everywhere — restoring the Internet as a place of freedom and exploration in the process.

Orchid’s dVPN is now live on Aurora! That means anyone can use the Orchid dApp by funding it with ETH on Aurora.

Aurora integrates its first dVPN, Orchid

## What is Burrow?

Burrow is a decentralized, non-custodial, autonomous money market similar in nature to Aave and Compound.

Burrow aims to unlock liquidity for interest-bearing assets, particularly layer 1 staking derivatives such as stNEAR and stETH. Users of Burrow will be able to deposit stNEAR as collateral, then borrow more NEAR to create a leveraged staking position, or borrow a stablecoin to make a self-repaying position.

## Getting Started

### New to NEAR?

If you don’t have a NEAR account, just follow [this guide](https://wiki.near.org/creating-a-near-wallet) to set up your NEAR wallet first!

### Connect Your NEAR Wallet


Launch [the Burrow app](https://app.burrow.cash/) and connect your NEAR wallet at the top right corner.

![](https://miro.medium.com/max/1400/0*64arvkgK1jBbHnSi)

## How to Supply

Users can supply assets to the protocol and begin earning interest.

The interest rates are variable and will fluctuate based on the utilization rate for the given asset. (More info on the interest rate model [here](https://docs.burrow.cash/product-docs/interest-rate-model).)

Supported assets at launch:

*   NEAR
*   stNEAR (staked NEAR)
*   ETH
*   wBTC
*   USDT
*   USDC
*   DAI
*   BRRR (Burrow’s native token)

1\. Go to “Deposit” and choose the asset to supply
--------------------------------------------------

Browse to the “Deposit” section and click on the asset you want to deposit.

![](https://miro.medium.com/max/1400/0*JNPE1ClmzRJeR_hZ)

2\. Select the amount you’d like to deposit and submit your transaction.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

3\. Once you have deposited your assets, you now have two options:
------------------------------------------------------------------

![](https://miro.medium.com/max/1400/0*NxlqajPO080WeCrE)

(1) **Enable** “Use as collateral.”  
This means that you will now be able to borrow assets against the amount you deposited into the supply pool.

This also means that your funds can potentially be liquidated. See “Health Factor” and “Liquidation” sections below for more info.

(2) Simply supply assets, **don’t** “use as collateral.”  
This means that you will simply earn interest on the amount you supplied to the pool, without further borrowing any assets. In this case, your assets are not subject to liquidation.

You can always turn on “use as collateral” later in your “Portfolio” page.

**4\. Approve the transaction in the NEAR wallet prompt.**
----------------------------------------------------------

![](https://miro.medium.com/max/1400/0*tH5MrXkUA1Jsl-Op)

Your deposit is now successfully registered, and you can begin earning interest. The “APY” (annual percentage yield) number tells you how much you can expect in $BRRR rewards for supplying assets.

## How to Borrow

Now that you have supplied your assets to Burrow’s liquidity pool, you can also _borrow_ funds against it.

1\. Designate your assets as collateral
---------------------------------------

In order to borrow assets, you must first enable “Use as Collateral.” If you haven’t turned on the “Use as collateral” button while depositing, you can adjust your position in the “Portfolio” → “Adjust Collateral” section.

On Burrow, you can pick and choose which deposited assets you want to use as collateral, as well as customize the rate of colleteralization.

![](https://miro.medium.com/max/1400/0*SR-ww6eedRRNkQFN)

2\. On the “Borrow” page, select the asset you want to borrow
-------------------------------------------------------------

![](https://miro.medium.com/max/1400/0*qnhPkuGcAdVyNedK)

3\. Enter the amount you want to borrow, keeping in mind the resulting Health Factor
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

![](https://miro.medium.com/max/1400/0*LqENh-9oVNlwT2TD)

What is the “Health Factor?”
----------------------------

The risk of a position can be understood through the Health Factor, which represents the combined collateral ratios of the borrowed assets.

*   If the health factor is **higher than 100%**, it means the account is in a good state and can’t be liquidated.
*   If the health factor is **less than 100%**, it means the account can be partially liquidated and can’t borrow more without repaying some amount of the existing assets or providing more collateral assets.

To learn more about how the health factor is calculated, see [here](https://docs.burrow.cash/product-docs/health-factor).

**What is “Liquidation?**
-------------------------

Liquidation is when your position is forcefully closed by the protocol (i.e. your collateral is sold off) because, due to changes in market conditions, the value of your collateral is no longer enough to secure your debt based on the Health Factor, meaning that you are at risk of not being able to pay off your debt. This kind of insolvency threatens the protocol, and therefore a liquidation event is triggered through bots to prevent it in advance.

This might happen when:

*   The collateral decreases in value (e.g. wNEAR price decreases from 20$ to 10$)
*   The borrowed debt increases in value

You can read more about liquidation [here](https://docs.burrow.cash/product-docs/liquidations).

**TL;DR**
---------

When your Health Factor is…

*   **Green**: Your funds are (generally) safu
*   **Yellow**: Risk is moderate
*   **Red**: Your funds are at a high risk of being liquidated

Warning
-------

*   We recommend users DO NOT set the collateral utilization rate at 100%. You are asking to be liquidated!
*   The Health Factor can change if the price of the underlying assets change to a great degree. We recommend users monitor their Health Factor from time to time, especially if there are rapid changes in market conditions.

4\. Submit and approve the transaction
--------------------------------------

![](https://miro.medium.com/max/1400/0*r7tLdZBetam7t0fe)

## How to Manage Your Assets

Access “Portfolio” in the menu to view and manage your Deposited and Borrowed assets.

Net APY
-------

Your “Net APY” is your total APY (annual percentage yield) which calculates how much you are earning from depositing assets (deposit APY) minus how much you owe the protocol from borrowing (borrow APY).

Withdraw
--------

Choose the asset you want to withdraw and click “Withdraw.”

![](https://miro.medium.com/max/1400/0*vL_RuWr_9vBS-I_2)

If you want to withdraw _all_ your assets, make sure to repay your debt first. If withdrawing at 100% doesn’t work, lower to 99% or so and try again.

If you are withdrawing only a portion of your assets and maintaining your debt position, beware of how this will change the Health Factor and manage your liquidation risk.

![](https://miro.medium.com/max/1400/0*kZQSog6DsRmQzPE8)

Adjust Collateral
-----------------

On Burrow, you can customize the rate at which your assets are collateralized, and set it differently for each asset you supply. This is different from previous lending protocols whose collateral rates were set at a default rate.

You can set the desired collateralization rate when you first deposit your assets, or go to “Portfolio” and click “Adjust Collateral.”

![](https://miro.medium.com/max/1400/0*CcSD76OS-5bSimub)

Repay
-----

To pay off your outstanding debt, go to the “Portfolio” section and click the “Repay” button.

![](https://miro.medium.com/max/1400/0*4DL9r-R6Hv0I6Dvp)

Deposit NEAR, Repay with wNEAR?
-------------------------------

Due to the difference in token standards, Burrow (and most other DeFi dapps on NEAR) use wNEAR (“wrapped” NEAR), not NEAR.

When you deposit, your NEAR will be automatically wrapped, so there is nothing you need to do. However, if you borrowed $wNEAR and are looking to repay, you have to do it as wNEAR. Use the [Ref Finance Wrapping Page](https://app.ref.finance/) to wrap your NEAR into wNEAR first.

In the future, Burrow will support direct wrap/unwrap on the app itself. Furthermore, the wrap/unwrap function will be integrated to the NEAR wallet so that this issue is more easily resolved.

![](https://miro.medium.com/max/1400/0*UjIGxtaAVv0hL6Bl)

To read on the difference between **wNEAR** and **NEAR**, see our FAQ.

Shortly, staking will go live on Burrow. Users can stake their BRRR and receive xBRRR, with which they can access boosted rewards and participate in protocol governance. Stay tuned!

Become a Burrow Hog


This user guide was created in collaboration with NEAR Mates and NEAR Insights.

How to Burrow: A Step-by-Step User Guide

NEAR Foundation is excited to announce that Orange DAO, a crypto collective created by Y Combinator alumni for backing Web3 startups, has selected NEAR as its preferred layer 1 blockchain. 

In turn, NEAR Foundation will invest $15 million into Orange DAO to help support the founders who are building Web3 companies on the NEAR blockchain.

“We are thrilled to have been selected by some of the brightest minds in the world as the preferred layer1 chain on which Orange DAO members will want to build,” said Marieke Flament, CEO of the NEAR Foundation. “We know that community-driven innovation benefits everyone, and this partnership is simply another example of our mission in practice.”

## Bringing startup accelerator expertise to NEAR

Although Y Combinator is not formally involved in the project, Orange DAO is currently made up entirely of YC alumni, including NEAR co-founder Alexander Skidanov. After starting with just a few dozen YC alums, Orange DAO has expanded in recent months to include over a thousand YC founders. 

One of the world’s leading startup accelerators, YC has been integral in developing some of the fastest-growing and most valuable tech brands. Based in Mountain View, California, YC has backed over 3,300 companies for a combined valuation of $600B, including Airbnb, Stripe, Dropbox, Coinbase, Opensea, Twitch, and Reddit. 

YC alums created Orange DAO as a venture structure to both identify and support young crypto startups currently building the future of the Web3 ecosystem. 

Orange DAO is not the first foray into Web3 by YC founders. Back in 2017, hundreds of alumni created the Pioneer Fund, a more traditional venture vehicle, to back Web3 projects. By contrast, Orange DAO operates as a decentralized autonomous organization, using blockchain tech to help multiple users make collective decisions. 

## Why Orange DAO chose NEAR

Unlike other blockchain networks, NEAR offers Web3 software developers an extremely fast, secure, and low-cost protocol—by way of its unique Nightshade sharding approach—for building decentralized applications (dapps). NEAR’s protocol technology, as well as its bridges to other blockchains, and developer ecosystem proved highly attractive to Orange DAO’s founders. 

The Orange DAO team will leverage NEAR’s strengths to back past, present, and aspiring Y Combinator founders. The DAO will do this by helping founders apply and get accepted into YC; providing pre- and post-YC funding; as well as mentoring founders and helping where possible with recruitment and customer acquisition. 

NEAR Foundation’s funding will vest over four years, and the Foundation will also provide time and resources to support YC founders. 

NEAR Foundation is excited to announce that Orange DAO, a crypto collective created by Y Combinator alumni for backing Web3 startups, has selected NEAR as its preferred layer 1 blockchain. 

Articles

Recent articles on NEAR and ecosystem projects.