According to official news, the NEAR Foundation announced the launch of "*NEAR NAME Tokens" for multi-chain, cross-platform digital identities for Web3 and other fields, providing users with a comprehensive digital identity solution covering a wider Web3 ecosystem. Users will be able to use the token in a variety of ways, including:
- As a simplified wallet address across hundreds of different blockchain networks;
- As an infrastructure identifier across hundreds of different blockchain networks;
- As a cross-platform username across a variety of decentralized platforms, including DeFi, GameFi, SocialFi, SportFi and other related applications;
- As a verifiable credential (VC) for interactive platforms and services;
- Get a unique benefit and reward program for participating in the D3 ecosystem;
- As an expression of the .NEAR equivalent domain name on the Internet.
It is reported that *NEAR NAME Tokens have an asterisk (*) between the name and the extension, such as you*near, instead of a period (.), partly because NEAR accounts already use the .NEAR extension.