Due to (extremely) popular demand, we’re delighted to announce that Copper now offers custody and staking support for NEAR, the native asset of NEAR Protocol, the high-performance layer one blockchain.

With this integration, Copper proudly becomes the world’s first institutional custodian to support over 50 Layer-1 blockchains.

NEAR Protocol is renowned in the market for its innovative sharding technology, high speed, low fees, and growing interoperability with other networks – all of which are helping the protocol grow at a rapid rate. Notably, the protocol has also attracted backing from an impressive roster of international VCs, arguably the most of any layer one protocol. Backers include a16z, Pantera Capital, Electric Capital, Dragonfly Capital, Coinbase Ventures, Blockchain.com, and Baidu Ventures.

The custody integration allows our 500+ institutional clients to securely hold NEAR through our award-winning custody solution, which leverages advanced multi-party computation (MPC) cryptography to remove the critical attack vector of private keys. Meanwhile, staking support for NEAR enables pioneering institutional investors to earn yield from participating in securing and validating the network, all the while, the staked assets remain secure in Copper’s custody.

Mark Sugden, Business Development and Partnerships at NEAR Protocol, commented: “The NEAR foundation has a commitment to the community of working with the best partners in the blockchain space. Copper is recognised as one of the leading custodians in the space, and their 100% commitment to its clients, echoes our commitment to the NEAR ecosystem.”

Alex Ryvkin, Chief Product Officer at Copper, commented. “We have been following the NEAR ecosystem for a long time and have been extremely impressed by its development and traction. Copper is now thrilled to be playing a part in supporting institutional adoption of this dynamic protocol. As the 50th Layer-1 blockchain to be supported by our platform – which is more than any institutional custodian – this integration also represents a huge milestone in our commitment to grow Copper’s offering and provide superior value to our clients.”