The number of active addresses on Near Protocol is accelerating. On April 6, 2024, Near saw over 2 million active addresses making transfers, the highest level on record and about 100% higher compared to the beginning of the year.
More importantly, that spike was not isolated, as Near continues to experience an increase in activity, with the 7-day average at the highest level as of this writing.
The surge in active addresses coincides with an increase in the daily transaction count on Near and a revival of total value locked (TVL) in Near-based decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols.
On April 4, daily transactions broke above 10 million for the first time ever before correcting to the current level of 8 million.
DefiLlama data shows that Near’s TVL figure has surged from less than $100 million at the beginning of the year to over $308 million on April 8, which is the highest level since August 2022.
DeFi & Stablecoins Are Key Drivers
The rapid increase in activity on Near is likely driven by stablecoin transactions.
For example, judging by TVL share, Burrow Finance is the most popular DeFi app on Near, with about $200 million in TVL or 65% of Near’s DeFi ecosystem. At the beginning of 2024, its TVL was less than $65 million.
The lending protocol enables users to deposit popular stablecoins, such as USDC and USDT, and earn an annual percentage yield (APY) of 27% and 26%, respectively. For comparison, supply APY on Aave is over 13% for USDT and 6% for USDC.
Since these high APY figures are available for Near-native USDC or USDT, many investors migrate from Ethereum or other chains to leverage higher interest rates.
In mid-March, the FRAX stablecoin also launched on Near and eventually landed on Burrow, contributing to the increase in activity on the layer 1 chain.
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