Is Near Protocol Becoming the Most Used Blockchain?!

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Intro

Near ranks above most competitors in Daily Active Addresses and performs admirably in daily transactions (below).
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Top Projects

Near DeFi 2023, Source: Messari
2024 trends indicate a consolidation of blockchain activity, particularly within the social and gaming sectors. This is epitomized by two applications: Sweat in the gaming domain and Kai-Ching in the social sphere. Since the introduction of Kai-Ching in early September, NEAR's usage has surged, with Kai-Ching dominating ongoing activity. This application, essentially a shopping and mobile app, rewards users in $KAIC token for purchases made on KaiKai.

Sweat: A Gaming Revolution

Sweat, also known as Sweat Economy, is a fitness app derived from the successful great Sweat Coin app. Its premise is straightforward: users earn tokens for each step taken, redeemable for various rewards, including fiat currency. The app's recent launch in the U.S. in October 2023 has garnered attention. Despite mixed reviews and over 6,000 ratings, the real user engagement is evident.
An on-chain analysis reveals that Sweat consistently attracts 50,000 unique wallets. Before the launch of Kai-Ching, Sweat accounted for over 50% of transaction fees on NEAR. However, this dominance has reduced, with Sweat now constituting approximately 10% of NEAR's gas expenditure.
The weekly Sweat token burn analysis shows a decline in Daily Active Users (DAUs), albeit with a recent uptick. Notably, the gas burned per user is decreasing, suggesting that each new user contributes less to token burn. The future trajectory of this metric will be crucial in assessing Sweat's ability to retain high-value users.

Kai-Ching: Reinventing Payments

Kai-Ching, developed by Cosmose AI, is a payment system and stablecoin, integrated into the KaiKai shopping app and the KaiKai NOW phone lock screen app. NEAR Foundation's strategic investment, valuing the company at $500 million USD, underscores its significance. While popular in Southeast Asia for transactions in select stores and restaurants, its launch on NEAR as a token remains pending.
Source: Messari
These applications are pivotal in driving NEAR's token burn rate, with both contributing to around 80% of total daily token burns. For NEAR to attain a deflationary status akin to Ethereum, a significant increase in token burn is necessary. Whether Sweat and Kai-Ching can single-handedly catalyze this change remains to be seen.
In conclusion, Sweat and Kai-Ching are not just applications but catalysts reshaping the dynamics of NEAR's blockchain usage. Their continued evolution and user engagement will be critical in determining NEAR's journey towards becoming a deflationary blockchain. This analysis underscores the importance of individual applications in driving blockchain activity and token economics, a trend likely to continue shaping the future of cryptocurrency platforms.