Aurora is a solution, that allows to execute Ethereum contracts in a more performant environment—NEAR blockchain, a modern layer-1 blockchain which is fast (2-3 second transaction finalization), scalable, and carbon neutral. Aurora is an Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) implemented as a smart contract on NEAR Protocol. We are here to help scale Ethereum ecosystem for developers to operate their apps on an Ethereum-compatible, high-throughput, scalable, and future-safe platform, with low transaction costs for their users.

Aurora provides the Ethereum 1.0 development experience, with layer-2-like speed and scalability. If you are an Ethereum developer, getting started on Aurora is as easy as changing the RPC endpoint you interact with.

Aurora supports all tools available in the Ethereum ecosystem — MetaMask, Truffle, Hardhat, Remix, etc. Additionally, NEAR's trustless bridge to Ethereum means even the assets on Aurora are the same as Ethereum. For example, account balances in Aurora's EVM are denominated in the same Ether (ETH) as on Ethereum itself. (Source: Aurora Docs)

Other projects working to improve cross-chain accessibility have since taken notice of Aurora’s work and become partners. One example is Trisolaris, a community-owned decentralized exchange (DEX) with fast-settlement, low fees, and a democratic governance process. Built on NEAR’s Aurora EVM, TriSolaris is building the one-stop-shop for DeFi on NEAR!

Aurora is also playing a big part in decentalized finance (DeFi) growth in the NEAR ecosystem. DeFi refers to the peer-to-peer financial services built on public blockchains, and is one of the most active crypto sectors on NEAR. The NEAR community has been working tirelessly to make it easier for DeFi apps and tools to leverage the protocol’s developer-friendly advantages.

One way that Aurora has made this process much smoother and more decentralized is through its extremely low fees (so low, they’re negligible), which it achieves by using the NEAR network. A constant gripe from users about Ethereum-based DeFi products is that the fees are often too high, creating a barrier to entry for developers and end users, and creating a hurdle to Web3’s mainstream adoption.

Aurora adoption is growing so much that the team released Aurorascan, its very own version of Etherscan, the most popular Ethereum block explorer and analytics platform. Aurorascan has all of Etherscan’s features set and reliability, while giving developers the tools and data to see how Aurora’s EVM functions.

But Aurora goes beyond DeFi. The platform is also integral to the NEAR community’s NFT projects, which have exploded in popularity since 2020. When the Aurora team spoke at this year’s ETHDenver conference in February, and they were joined by members of Endemic, Chronicle, and TENKBay—all NFT platforms that have launched on the Aurora EVM and NEAR Protocol. (Sources: Near Blog and Aurora Blog)