Author: Nancy, PANews

Compared with the fierce battle of Layer 2, Layer 1, which played a fierce battle in the last cycle, seems much cooler, and many L1 chain activities have reached freezing point. Recently, the data on the NEAR Protocol chain, which has been dormant for a long time, has experienced substantial growth, with the number of users and transaction volume soaring. This growth is attributed to the shopping platform KaiKai, especially since the platform also launched a multiple token reward plan this month.

KaiKai is not a native encryption project on the Near network. It is a "chain-modified" shopping platform under Cosmose AI, a consumer shopping data analysis platform it co-invests in.

Since September, the activity on NEAR Protocol’s multiple necklaces has begun to surge significantly. NEAR's official block explorer shows that as of September 12, the number of daily transactions has exceeded 1.49 million, and the number of daily active accounts is approximately 680,000. Among them, NEAR's various data reached a historical peak on September 5, with the number of daily transactions being approximately 3.165 million, the number of daily active accounts being approximately 926,000, and the daily gas usage exceeding 35,000 NEAR. Prior to this, most of NEAR's daily transactions were between 300,000 and 500,000, and the number of daily active accounts was basically less than 100,000.

According to Token Terminal data, the number of daily active users of NEAR Protocol has exceeded Ethereum, Polygon and Startnet in the past 30 days, with an increase of approximately 879.7% in the past 30 days.

Among the 10 most active contracts displayed in the NEAR block explorer in the past 14 days, the related contract named "KAI-Ching" ranks firmly in the top two in terms of transaction count, with a total of 19.546 million transactions created in the past two weeks.

At the same time, according to data tracked by DappRadar, as of September 12, KAI-Ching’s daily UAW number exceeded 580,000, and the number of transactions was approximately 584,000.

It is worth mentioning that KaiKai launched a shopping reward program in September this year. Users who use the KaiKai App to shop can earn double or even triple KAI-Ching. This may be the direct reason for the sudden surge in NEAR data.

KAI-Ching is actually the native stablecoin of Cosmose AI flagship product KaiKai running on the NEAR network and pegged to the US dollar. It is understood that Cosmose AI is a consumer shopping data analysis platform founded in 2014. It serves more than 20 million stores and 1 billion users around the world. Its customers include top brands such as LVMH, GUCCI, BURBERRY, Cartier, Tencent and Estee Lauder.

Cosmose AI tracks in-store foot traffic and engages with online shoppers by using AI analytics, and its suite of retail solutions includes the KaiKai app, which allows customers to discover nearby retail stores and an online location platform. Among them, KaiKai is the flagship product of Cosmose AI, which integrates various elements such as shopping, retail, and gamification, and supports many brands such as NIKE, Samsung, Apple, Celine, and Nintendo Switch. According to the official introduction, the features provided by KaiKai include limited-time exclusive Product Drop, AR technology, live broadcasts featuring celebrities and influencers, rewards for collecting products and writing reviews, and access to the NEAR wallet through the KaiKai app.

In April this year, the NEAR Foundation announced that it had made a strategic investment in Cosmose AI at a valuation of US$500 million. According to the cooperation plan, Cosmose AI and KaiKai will carry out chain modification through the NEAR protocol, and the two parties will establish a stablecoin payment system that allows users to use cryptocurrency for shopping with lower transaction fees.

According to the official introduction, KaiKai launched a blockchain-based loyalty program and created a native cryptocurrency called "Kai-Ching". Users can earn additional Kai-Ching tokens when playing and shopping on the platform. How it works Similar to any other retail rewards program. The difference is that Cosmose’s AI provides more personalized recommendations and reward suggestions, and customers can easily transact on the NEAR blockchain using the native KaiKai crypto wallet. At the same time, KaiKai has also created an encrypted wallet for users. Users can use legal currency to exchange Kai-Ching. Of course, the token can also be exchanged back to legal currency. To this end, Cosmose has also created a vault for Kai-Ching, which is pegged to the U.S. dollar (1 Kai-Ching = 1 cent) and can only be traded within the app to prevent value fluctuations. However, according to KaiKai, the platform is working to obtain relevant licenses so that KAI-CHING can conduct transactions in the future.

The reason for choosing blockchain reform is that, according to Cosmose AI, third-party payment companies such as Stripe and PayPal actually charge more than 10% for small transactions, so sellers can only increase prices and force buyers to pay 6%-10 more. % fees, while crypto payment systems can significantly reduce transaction costs.

In addition, although Cosmose AI has not announced its specific number of crypto users, it has revealed that one-third of transactions are paid through Kai-Ching, and 83.5% of its users are Generation Z.

In short, the public chain is an important infrastructure in the Web3 field and one of the most competitive tracks. Currently, in addition to building technical barriers, NEAR, Polygon, etc. have become transformation tools for Web2, allowing Web3 technology to be used by more users outside the circle, thus building their own advantages. So far, this strategy has begun to bear fruit.