NEAR Protocol’s Blockchain Operating System (BOS) is a new approach to the world of web3 that looks at the entire blockchain ecosystem and attempts to create a framework to abstract “janky” usability and complex user journeys.
Originally announced in October 2022 and followed by the launch of the first gateway in May 2023, the BOS initially faced skepticism from the NEAR community and investors. However, it has since gained traction and is now considered a “game-changer for all future blockchains”. according to to NEAR Protocol in a recent Medium article.
“We can confidently say that not only do we understand the BOS vision, but we believe it provides a unique competitive advantage, and an exceptionally forward-looking and strategic move for NEAR Foundation and Pagoda to go all-in during the Bear Market 2022.”
Simplifying Blockchain Interaction
NEAR’s core team claims to have prioritized usability since the start of the project, aiming to overcome the complexities and difficulties users often encounter when interacting with blockchain technology.
By connecting blockchain applications with “user-friendly paths”, the BOS aims to enable companies to create and integrate seamless access points to specific use cases within the blockchain, hiding the underlying complexity from users experiencing a simplified interface that is tailored to the preferences of the application. NEAR describes the BOS as follows:
“The BOS is your all-in-one solution to connect a user or a company to an application on a blockchain, as if they were only using the internet to search for Amazon clothing.
The BOS connects the janky and painful world of the internet of value with the intuitive and relatively familiar world of the regular internet (also known as Web2.0).”
Real world applications showcased
NEAR’s article outlines some possible use cases for a BOS, including an acclaimed “Steam Gaming On-Chain” gateway, which would provide one-click access to any web3 game on NEAR, Ethereum, and Solana. This gateway could include a game asset marketplace that allows users to easily play, earn, sell, trade and store their game assets with a $10 monthly payment for access to 50+ games with no upfront fees.
Current methods of using multiple chains and bridges to enable cross-chain interaction are far from optimal, as anyone who has worked with web3 dApps will surely agree.
In NEAR’s vision, the BOS is intended to enable a global blockchain account marketplace where users can purchase a named ID from any blockchain ecosystem, providing a single domain marketplace for all blockchains.
The role of NEAR in the BOS ecosystem
NEAR believes that the BOS not only simplifies user experiences, but also plays a vital role in monetization within the NEAR ecosystem. NEAR tokens will serve to “anchor the entire system”, acting as a medium of exchange for licenses or deployments between dApps, widgets and gateways. While gateway providers purchase and deploy NEAR tokens to cover transaction fees and other user actions that may incur on-chain costs.
“BOS is positioned to project NEAR into the top 10 most important digital assets in the world, while also opening the floodgates to an entirely new user base.”
BOS: A vision of interoperability
The vision of the BOS is to position NEAR as the central blockchain that connects all other blockchains, a concept that has been proposed before, but not with the product stack that BOS is introducing. NEAR co-founder Illia Polosukhin, described the Blockchain operating system stack as follows:
“Near Discovery (recommended gateway: http://alpha.near.org)
CLOSE Social (contract)
NEAR Onboarding (Fast Auth)
NEAR Data (Query API)
NEAR Protocol (still an L1)”
NEAR states that the OBS is a long-term approach that will take years to fully integrate, but is expected to create a sustainable foundation for NEAR to eventually integrate multi-chain components and dApps.
While the BOS carries a promising future, it is essential to recognize the potential risks and challenges associated with its implementation. NEAR clearly identified the network effect of Ethereum in its article and the challenges faced by a younger blockchain like NEAR in the face of competition.
As the BOS continues to evolve, it promises an ever-expanding ecosystem of widgets, dApps, and gateways for various blockchain use cases and an increasing number of daily active users.
