The last two weeks have been incredibly turbulent for the crypto space, both economically and psychologically. We extend our most profound empathy to everyone impacted or otherwise affected by the recent cataclysm. At Proximity, our mission to support builders and empower DeFi stands as firm as ever. Fortunately, Proximity had no direct exposure to Alameda/FTX, and we are currently well-positioned with multiple years of runway in stablecoins and digital assets. The same is true for the NEAR Foundation. We are more than capable and willing to aid DeFi teams that face an uncertain future due to recent events, so please do not hesitate to reach out to us.
As we watch the continued contagion in our community from the failure of yet another centralized finance entity, we are once again reminded that our mission to support and grow DeFi is both meaningful and necessary. The future of finance must be transparent and decentralized if similar failures are not to be repeated. To that end, we must make decentralized solutions as easy to use and powerful as their centralized counterparts.
At Proximity, we believe in the necessity of a robust and highly performant orderbook DEX economy for a decentralized future and that NEAR is the right place to realize such a vision. Written using Rust and WASM, NEAR has the highest throughput and lowest latency in DeFi, with a fast finality of 1–2 seconds and near-zero transaction costs. Furthermore, with scalability achieved through sharding, the Web 2-friendly account model, and a focus on onboarding with the JavaScript SDK or native meta-transactions, NEAR is well-equipped for the mass adoption of DeFi.
For this purpose, Proximity, together with Orderly Network, Spin, and Tonic, is launching a $10M fund dedicated to decentralized orderbook solutions on NEAR. The fund, which is to be derived from the participants’ treasuries, would be deployed in the form of grants or investments for DeFi protocols that leverage the central limit orderbook (CLOB) infrastructure provided by Orderly Network, Spin, or Tonic. Proximity will also provide advisory services and developer support from our team of industry experts and core NEAR contributors.
This $10M fund is an open invite for builders from any ecosystem to advance NEAR’s decentralized orderbook infrastructure to a level that will rival centralized exchanges. At the same time, it is an encouragement for all those building to keep going. If interested, please contact us via this form and build the decentralized orderbook economy with us.
Additionally, our usual investment efforts continue as normal; if you want to connect with Proximity about a DeFi project that is not specific to CLOBs or associated trading infrastructure, please visit our website to get in touch.
#OrderbooksAreNEAR