Coinspeaker NEAR Protocol Secures $21.6M Funding, Launches MainNet to Compete with Ethereum 2.0With its mainnet release NEAR has launched its "first fully sharded, fully operational proof-of-stake blockchain platform" that allows users to create end-user applications atop the platform.NEAR Protocol Secures $21.6M Funding, Launches MainNet to Compete with Ethereum 2.0