NEAR Protocol Joins Dune’s Expanding Data Ecosystem
March 4 2026 – Dune Analytics
Dune Analytics announced today that the NEAR Protocol blockchain is now fully supported on its platform, giving developers, analysts, and investors direct access to on‑chain data from NEAR’s sharded network. The addition marks another milestone in Dune’s roadmap to index 100 blockchains by the end of 2024 and provides a new source of transparency for one of the fastest‑growing layer‑1 ecosystems.
What the Integration Brings
- Comprehensive on‑chain metrics – Users can now track transaction volumes, gas consumption, and other performance indicators across NEAR’s Nightshade sharding architecture from a single dashboard.
- dApp and DeFi visibility – Pre‑built and custom dashboards give insight into activity on leading NEAR applications, including DeFi protocols, NFT marketplaces, and other high‑traffic services.
- Cross‑chain flow analysis – The integration includes data from NEAR’s Rainbow Bridge, allowing analysts to monitor asset transfers between NEAR and Ethereum in near real‑time.
- API access – Queries can be exported as API endpoints through Dune’s API, enabling developers to embed NEAR metrics directly into their own products or research pipelines.
Why NEAR Matters
NEAR’s design focuses on scalability and user‑friendly development. Its Nightshade sharding solution enables the network to process a high number of transactions at low cost, a combination that has attracted a broad set of projects. Recent on‑chain activity highlights the ecosystem’s momentum:
- Over 30 million monthly active accounts, a more than ten‑fold increase in a single year.
- Daily active accounts have risen to roughly 3 million, with daily transaction counts exceeding 7 million.
- NEAR leads among layer‑1 chains in user retention, roughly double the industry average, driven by consumer‑oriented applications such as the HOT wallet and the Cosmose platform.
The protocol has also been a pioneer in “chain abstraction,” supporting over 40 teams that use NEAR’s chain‑signature capability to sign and execute transactions across multiple blockchains. A parallel effort is under way to build a user‑owned AI ecosystem, with more than 30 collaborators contributing to the initiative.
Voices from the Community
Fredrik Haga, co‑founder and CEO of Dune, emphasized that the integration “opens a window onto NEAR’s novel sharding model, allowing precise measurement of DeFi, NFT, and cross‑chain activity.”
Illia Polosukhin, co‑founder of NEAR, echoed the sentiment, noting that the new data tools “give the NEAR community the analytical depth needed to sustain growth across a diverse set of applications, from consumer wallets to DeFi and bridge transactions.”
Early Use Cases
Within hours of the launch, community members have begun publishing dashboards that surface key ecosystem metrics:
- NEAR Overview – A high‑level snapshot of network health, transaction trends, and bridge activity.
- Ref Finance Dashboard – Real‑time analytics on the leading NEAR‑based decentralized exchange, including liquidity depth and trading volume.
- Burrow Finance Dashboard – Performance indicators for one of NEAR’s lending platforms, tracking interest rates, collateral ratios, and user engagement.
These dashboards are publicly accessible on Dune and can be forked for further customization.
Analysis: Impact on the NEAR Ecosystem
The availability of granular, queryable data is expected to accelerate several trends:
- Increased Capital Allocation – Institutional investors often require reliable analytics before committing capital. Dune’s dashboards lower the barrier to perform due diligence on NEAR projects.
- Developer Enablement – By simplifying data extraction, the integration allows developers to build richer analytics tools, game‑changing dashboards, and automated monitoring solutions without having to maintain their own indexers.
- Network Transparency – Enhanced visibility into bridge flows and gas economics may improve risk assessment for cross‑chain strategies, a growing focus as DeFi expands beyond single chains.
- Community Growth – Accessible metrics can attract new participants, especially those familiar with Dune’s interface from other ecosystems, reinforcing NEAR’s user‑retention advantage.
Key Takeaways
- NEAR is now fully searchable on Dune, providing instant access to sharding‑aware metrics, dApp activity, and bridge transfers.
- The integration aligns with Dune’s broader objective to become a universal on‑chain data hub, targeting 100 blockchains by year‑end.
- NEAR’s rapid user‑base expansion (30 M+ monthly active accounts) underscores the strategic value of detailed analytics for both investors and developers.
- Community‑driven dashboards are already live, demonstrating immediate utility and the potential for further ecosystem insights.
- Developers can leverage Dune’s API to embed NEAR data in external applications, facilitating a new wave of data‑centric products.
Getting Started
Interested parties can explore existing NEAR dashboards on Dune’s blockchain directory or create custom queries using the platform’s query editor. Documentation for onboarding, dashboard creation, and API usage is available through Dune’s help center.
The data-driven synergy between NEAR and Dune promises to sharpen the analytical tools available to the broader Web3 community, fostering deeper insight and more informed decision‑making across the DeFi landscape.
Source: https://dune.com/blog/near-protocol-is-now-live-on-dune
