Embracing Decentralization: What’s Next for the NEAR Wallet

When NEAR Mainnet launched in late 2020, it included a wallet built and hosted by Pagoda’s (then known as Near Inc.) core team on https://wallet.near.org to support NEAR’s unique account model. Nearly three years later, the NEAR wallet ecosystem is home to a myriad of high quality, open source wallets supported by NEAR’s community of active contributors. This significant milestone reflects NEAR’s ongoing commitment to empower users and foster decentralization. The evolution of NEAR wallets also showcases the substantial growth of the ecosystem, as NEAR now supports a diverse list of cross-chain wallets, as well as native wallets with innovative onboarding approaches such as FastAuth.

To celebrate these excellent contributions from across the NEAR community, and to reflect the priority of decentralization, over the next few months Pagoda will start migrating the domain https://wallet.near.org from being a browser wallet to being a wallet hub. In this way, https://wallet.near.org will become the reference place for all NEAR wallets, allowing users to discover and implement the right wallets for their specific needs.

If you currently use https://wallet.near.org as your main wallet, you have nothing to worry about. The Pagoda team has been working hard to build a Wallet Transfer Wizard to help you transfer your accounts to a new wallet easily and smoothly, while keeping your funds and assets safe. The Transfer Wizard will allow you to choose between Browser and Extension-based wallets, so you will still have the same friendly wallet experience you are accustomed to after the Wizard is finished.

For more details, visit the Migrating from NEAR Wallet page. 

Timeline for transitioning the main wallet domain 

The NEAR Wallet will remain a browser wallet until January 1st, 2024, during which time the wallet will encourage and help you to transfer your accounts to a new wallet. You can do this manually with your recovery phrase or use the Transfer Wizard to securely migrate your accounts to the wallet of your choice. 

Do not worry if you have not transferred your accounts by January 1st, 2024 — the Transfer Wizard will still be available after the wallet functionality sunsets. Rest assured that your assets will remain secure until you import them to a new wallet.

The Transfer Wizard will remain available on the new wallet landing page at wallet.near.org indefinitely. This repurposed page will act as an introduction to the various options for wallets in the NEAR ecosystem.

A new era for NEAR Wallets

This new step moves NEAR closer to achieving a truly decentralized ecosystem driven by its own community. Thanks to the wallet hub and the wallet selector (which enables the use of any compatible NEAR wallet in web applications), users will now be able to use any wallet they like. This will not only improve their experience on NEAR, but also the full spectrum of available Web3 experiences thanks to the BOS.