Alibaba Cloud, Near Foundation Agree to Collaborate on Asia’s Web3 Growth: Details

Based in Zug, Switzerland, the Near Foundation is a non-profit organisation that oversees the funding, ecosystem development, as well as core governance of the Near blockchain.

Written by Radhika Parashar, Edited by Manas Mitul | Updated: 26 June 2023 18:17 IST

Alibaba Cloud, Near Foundation Agree to Collaborate on Asia’s Web3 Growth: Details

Photo Credit: Reuters

China imposed a blanket ban on crypto activities back in September 2021

Highlights

The Near Foundation is a non-profit organisation based in Switzerland
Alibaba Cloud will help Chinese Web3 developers safely build on Near bloc
Near will also let developers use its Blockchain Operating System (BOS)

Web3 adoption, around the world, seems to be heating up with plenty happening around crypto rules and CBDC introductions in existing economies. Aiming to foster the growth of Web3 in Asia, the Near Foundation has entered a partnership with China's Alibaba Group. Essentially, the Near Foundation is looking to use Alibaba's Cloud solutions to help developers build on its blockchain infrastructure. The development comes at a time when more Web3 players are shifting their attention to the densely populated and tech savvy Asian continent.

Based in Zug, Switzerland, the Near Foundation is a non-profit organisation that oversees the funding, ecosystem development, as well as core governance of the Near blockchain. The Proof-of-Stake (PoS) blockchain is energy efficient and eco-friendly.

The Near Foundation is aiming to encourage more Web3 developers to use its blockchain to support their solutions and products. Its partnership with Alibaba Cloud aims to encourage developers from anti-crypto China to also hop onboard the Web3 wagon.

What is NFT Lending: Everything to Know

As part of their partnership, the Near Foundation and Alibaba Cloud will offer remote procedure calls (RPC) as a service to developers on the Near ecosystem. The RPC, which is a type of a computer server, lets users read blockchain data amongst other features, a Coindesk report said on Monday, June 26.

In addition, the infrastructure provided by Alibaba Cloud will enable Web3 developers to use Near's Blockchain Operating System (BOS) to build on and connect with others using the ecosystem.

For Alibaba, this makes for an important deal signed under its executive vice chairman, Joseph Tsai. A vocal blockchain enthusiast, Tsai himself is reportedly a Web3 investor who has been analysing favourable deals with crypto-related organisations to bring into Alibaba's partnerships portfolio.

Skoda Launches ‘Skodaverse’ NFT Platform in Crypto-Sceptic India: Details

For now, all crypto-related activities are banned in China. Hence it looks like blockchain solutions apart from the ones that simplify engagement with crypto, could brew strong among Chinese developers.

As far as Near is concerned, this is not its first foray into the Asian market.

In February this year it joined forces with Indian multi-media company Shemaroo Entertainment to bring immutability, transparency, as well as decentralisation to India's entertainment and media sphere via blockchain.

Blockchains that aim to onboard gaming companies are also shifting their focus to Asia from the western markets.

Asia's gaming community generates the maximum chunk of revenue in the industry. In its latest research report, DappRadar said the Asian nations of India, China, Japan, and South Korea collectively have over 1.7 billion video game players, and this big number has attracted players in the Web3 gaming space to shift their focus to the Asian market on priority.

Is the Xiaomi Pad 6 the best Android tablet you can buy under Rs. 30,000 in India? We discuss the company's latest mid-range tablet on the latest episode of Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.

Affiliate links may be automatically generated - see our ethics statement for details.

Comments

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.

Further reading: Cryptocurrency, Alibaba, Near Protocol, Blockchain

Radhika Parashar

Email Radhika

Radhika Parashar is a senior correspondent for Gadgets 360. She has been reporting on tech and telecom for the last three years now and will be focussing on writing about all things crypto. Besides this, she is a major sitcom nerd and often replies in Chandler Bing and Michael Scott references. For tips or queries you could reach out to her at RadhikaP@ndtv.com. More