With NEAR’s JS SDK, more than 20 million developers that make JavaScript the world’s most popular coding language can finally join the internet revolution and quickly build fast, scalable, and user-friendly decentralized applications. Having that many more contributors in the space could bring about a fascinating renaissance to the open web.

Although Rust and Solidity are the most prominent programming languages for Layer 1 blockchains, there are fewer than 2.5 million developers worldwide who use these languages. So, opening up the doors nearly 10x is a major step towards mass adoption. JS runs in every browser, the basics can be taught in an afternoon, it requires no compiler setup, and it comes pre-loaded with useful libraries like RegExp, Math, and Array. The NEAR JS SDK brings this same capability and ease of use to developing smart contracts, unlocking the power of blockchain to a much, much wider audience. 

Commenting on the launch, Illia Polosukhin, Founder of NEAR, says: “Developers can spend less time learning a new language and more time building their application in a language they already know. Millions of developers already know how to program in JavaScript; enabling this group to build novel applications on NEAR is a critical step in achieving our vision of a billion users interacting with NEAR.”

Learn, build, and deploy in minutes

NEAR’s commitment to putting simplicity and usability first is reinforced by this release, making the learning curve for blockchain far less steep than it has ever been. Javascript developers can now set up their first dApp in the same amount of time it takes to spin up a React app. 

The JS SDK release has everything you need to dive right into blockchain development including the contract framework itself, JavaScript and TypeScript contract examples, and example tests. It is implemented in TypeScript, which offers developers implicit, strict, and structural typing, along with type annotations built into your favorite IDE. 

Developers can get started building their first JavaScript decentralized application by following this quick start guide or heading to Pagoda’s landing page to learn more. 

A Closer Look at the JS SDK

The JS SDK provides each contract its own instance of a JS engine running inside it. This design allows developers to write contracts in pure JavaScript or TypeScript, and access all the same features, like oracles, available to Rust contracts.

To get started, run npx create-near-app in your terminal and select JavaScript for your smart contract. Once everything is installed you can test, compile, and deploy your newly created project with ease.

For a more detailed look at the contract structure and other configurations check out this dApp QuickStart Guide on NEAR’s Official Documentation site. 

About Pagoda

The JS SDK is developed by Pagoda, the engineering team that builds and maintains NEAR Protocol and some of the most important tools needed for decentralized application (dApp) development. Developers can use the Pagoda suite of tools to build, deploy, test, and interact with smart contracts on NEAR. For more information on the JS SDK, visit Pagoda or join the NEAR Discord and checkout the #engineering channels where resources like live support are available every day. 

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From NEAR’s roadmap to raising crypto funds for Ukraine, here are the main takeaways from Consensus, Austin.

Major Dev Experience Announcements

NEAR Foundation’s presence at Consensus 2022 kicked off with opening remarks by CEO Marieke Flemant on the Foundations Stage. Flemant highlighted the NEAR Foundation’s continued commitment to sustainability and ecosystem growth before turning things over to NEAR co-founder Illia Polosukhin, who presented a roadmap for the NEAR Protocol over the next 12 months along with some exciting news for developers.

After re-iterating the Foundation’s goal of onboarding the first one billion users onto Web3, Polosukhin announced that NEAR will soon be rolling out a JavaScript software development kit (SDK) within the next few months. Developers will then be able to build in JavaScript and ship code directly to NEAR. Polosukhin was particularly excited about this announcement because he feels that JavaScript is the language for mass developer adoption.

To piggyback on Polosukhin’s announcement, Josh Ford and Ben Kurrek from the developer relations team led a Test Drive Javascript for NEAR session on the Crypto Cities stage. Ford and Kurrek noted that with over seven million developers currently coding with JavaScript, the upcoming SDK release will prove extremely fruitful in user onboarding. 

Not to mention that Brendan Eiche, the inventor of JavaScript, attended both sessions and expressed his excitement about NEAR’s JavaScript SDK on Twitter.

The Web3 World According to NEAR

On the second day of Consensus, Flament gave a speech on the Feature Stage speech entitled “The Web3 World According to NEAR.” Building upon her opening remarks on day one, she painted a clearer picture of how Web3 and NEAR will evolve in the upcoming years and why she still believes that crypto can fulfill the promise of re-defining money and creating a more inclusive world.

Flament also addressed current market conditions and pointed out the importance of an even deeper commitment to building during a bear market. 

“We have much more talent, funding, and infrastructure than the last bear market,” Flamant observed. “While it seems that the world is filled with bad news, this is not the time for pessimism but for action. It’s urgent that we make even more progress at a faster pace than ever.”

Flament restated NEAR’s commitment to creating an open, inclusive Web3 based on the three pillars of Ownership, Community, and Incentives. Once self-sovereign individuals gain ownership and control over their data, Flament said that only then can we collectively fight exploitative behavior by Web2 giants. After the notion of ownership has been decentralized and turned on its head, Flament predicted that we can then re-think modes of incentivizing participation and building community.

And while Flament observed that some at Consensus were bearish on the “X to Earn” phenomena, in her opinion, the trend has barely scratched the surface. Sweatcoin continues to onboard users to NEAR and Web3 with their app. Not to mention SailGP and Armored Kingdom, projects and partners that are re-defining sports team ownership and entertainment with DAOs and NFTs.

She concluded by saying that NEAR is committed to providing tools to create a simple, sustainable, and scalable Web3 world. 

NEAR Helping Ukrainians in Need

Co-founder Illia Polosukhin re-emerged on the second day of Consusus to participate in a panel discussion around how crypto and the blockchain is being used to aid Ukraine during the ongoing war. The discussion was moderated by Emily Parker from CoinDesk, and included Valeriya Ionan Ukraine’s Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation as well as Mike Chobanian from the Blockchain Association of Ukraine.

Polosukhin recounted that when he heard the news about Ukraine, his first instinct was to find ways to personally donate to those affected by the conflict. He then started thinking bigger, and shortly thereafter the Unchain Fund was started on NEAR to raise funds via a DAO model. Unchain Fund raised over $10 million within the first few weeks and expanded to work with over 5,000 volunteers on the ground. Crypto has been a huge part of effective relief, said Polosukhin, as NGOs can sometimes be slow to respond immediately.

He then reminded the audience that there will be a time – hopefully soon – that the conflict comes to an end. And at that point, blockchain, crypto, and Web3 can play a crucial role in rebuilding Ukraine and even preserving cultural artifacts on the blockchain. Chobanian from the Blockchain Association of Ukraine added that they are currently in the proposal stage with NEAR to place NFT versions of important Ukrainian art and other artifacts on the blockchain in case the IRL versions are ever destroyed.

Armored Kingdom and Brave Announcements

Two of the biggest NEAR announcements that came out of Consensus were on the gaming and browser integration fronts. Firstly, Brave and NEAR will collaborate to integrate Aurora, an Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) on the NEAR Protocol, into Brave Wallet. This means greater multi-chain functionality in Brave Wallet and expanded utility for the Basic Attention Token (BAT).

“This is a very significant partnership for the future advancement of Web3 and mass adoption, offering a multi-chain integration bridging the Ethereum and NEAR communities via Aurora – and one of the first big integrations via Brave,” said Marieke Flament, CEO of NEAR Foundation. 

“With the new Brave Wallet there will be a host of Web3 functionality supported such as NFT and Swap – all of which will provide the protection of a privacy-preserving, in-browser wallet that’s secure and mass-market ready.”

In addition, Deadline Hollywood broke the news that superstar actress Mila Kunis has partnered with superhero creator Sharad Devarajan of Graphic India to launch Armored Kingdom Media Inc, which will be a new entertainment franchise spanning a Web3 trading card game, digital comics, animation, and film built on NEAR.

“We are excited to support the launch of Armored Kingdom and the storytelling opportunities it will bring to fans,” said Flament. “NEAR is a perfect blockchain for an entertainment franchise as it can support various platforms, which is crucial for multiverse experiences across different mediums. Our focus on ease of use also allows developers to deliver intuitive experiences for a large fan base.”

Between the upcoming JavaScript SDK, Armored Kingdom launching on NEAR, and partnering with Brave, Consensus was extraordinarily eventful, demonstrating the strength and commitment of the entire ecosystem. The NEAR Foundation thanks all community members, builders, and partners that engaged at Consensus Austin, and looks forward to seeing many of the same faces at NEARCON this September in Lisbon!

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