On July 19, the digital asset company Bitgo announced it has partnered with the Near Foundation and will be “the first qualified custodian to support the protocol and its assets, including its native token.” The collaboration will give institutions holding near protocol (NEAR) tokens the ability to store and stake the coins via Bitgo’s platform.

Bitgo Partners With the Near Foundation

The digital asset financial services firm Bitgo has inked a partnership deal with the Near Foundation, the non-profit foundation headquartered in Switzerland that’s responsible for the development and core governance for the Near protocol. The Near protocol is an open-source, carbon neutral, public proof-of-stake (PoS) blockchain that uses the Nightshade consensus mechanism.

The Palo Alto, California-based company Bitgo says that through the new partnership, “institutions holding [near protocol] tokens will now be able to custody and stake these tokens via hot wallets and qualified custody wallets on Bitgo’s platform.” The Near Foundation will also custody the foundation’s treasury and stake the assets via Bitgo’s platform.

“Bitgo is excited to become the first qualified custodian to provide services to the entire Near Protocol ecosystem, including holders of the [near] token who have been searching for a secure way to store and stake their assets,” Bitgo’s vice president of product, Nuri Chang said in a statement. Chang added:

The [Near Protocol] has built an extensive network of institutions that are committed to furthering the Open Web and Web3 evolution, and we are excited to deliver them safe and secure custody and staking services for their [near] tokens.

Bitgo’s Token Roster Is Just Shy of 600 Crypto Assets

The crypto asset near protocol (NEAR) is the 27th largest by market capitalization at the time of writing and has been trading for $3.92 to $4.57 during the last 24 hours. NEAR’s market valuation today is $3.3 billion or 0.298% of the crypto economy’s $1 trillion market valuation.

NEAR has performed better than most crypto assets this year as the digital currency has gained 45% during the last 30 days and year-to-date, NEAR is up 133.3% against the U.S. dollar. In terms of decentralized finance (defi), the Near protocol has roughly seven defi projects and today, there’s $344.4 million total value locked among them.

Bitgo details that adding near protocol (NEAR) to the company’s roster makes it just shy of 600 crypto tokens supported by the company. Bitgo believes the token diversity underscores “the growing interest among institutions for access to high-speed, complex blockchains and their native tokens.”

What do you think about Bitgo adding near protocol (NEAR) to the company’s roster of supported crypto coins? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

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