NEAR The Foundation recently announced that it is restructuring to streamline its work activities and expand its “Open Web” vision.
Known for its commitment to putting individuals in control of their data, privacy, and governance, the NEAR Foundation has been instrumental in advancing the NEAR Protocol. The protocol has achieved many notable successes, hosting three of the top ten applications on Web3 in 2023, attracting a record number of daily users, and fostering increased collaboration with the Ethereum community.
The restructuring decision was taken following a comprehensive review conducted by the NEAR Foundation Council (NFC). The review highlighted areas where the Foundation could improve its efficiency, pointing to examples where it moved too slowly and tried to undertake too many initiatives at once. As a response to this assessment, NEAR Foundation chose to consolidate its core team by focusing on a more targeted and high-impact set of activities.
Following the decision, the team will be reduced by 40%. This means that 35 employees in the team will part ways. However, the NEAR Protocol Engineering Team at Pagoda will continue its operations unaffected by the restructuring.
Financially, the NEAR Foundation demonstrates stability with a solid treasury of over $285 million in fiat currency, 305 million NEAR tokens worth over $1 billion, and $70 million in additional investments and loans. This financial strength positions the Foundation well to continue supporting the growth, development and decentralization of the NEAR Protocol and its ecosystem.