3 reasons why Near Protocol (NEAR) just hit a new all-time high

cointelegraph.com:

The layer one (L1) battle is starting to heat up again and multiple protocols have seen their token values rise in recent weeks as traders venture out to see what life is like outside of the Ethereum (ETH) network. 

One L1 protocol that has seen its token price climb to a new all-time high this week was NEAR, a community-run cloud computing platform focused on interoperability and lightning quick transaction speed.

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView show that, following a pullback that hit a low of $13.10 on Jan. 9, the price of NEAR climbed more than 50% to establish a new record high at $20.36 on Jan. 14. 

Three reasons that contributed to the growing strength of NEAR include the successful completion of a $150 million funding round, the success of the Aurora cross-chain bridge protocol and an expanding ecosystem of projects and developers working on the NEAR network.

The most recent price spike followed an announcement that the team had successfully closed its latest funding round, raising $150 million from a variety of investors including Dragonfly Capital, a16z, Alameda and Circle Ventures.

@NEARProtocol raises $150M to boost ecosystem growth! #NEAR has announced the close of a $150 million funding round led by @zhusu's Three Arrow Capital.Participants included @MechanismCap, @a16z, @dragonfly_cap, #Alameda and many more.Learn https://t.co/DjilZpkYPH

NEAR plans to use the funds raised to accelerate the adoption of Web3 technologies via ecosystem funding, developing out regional hubs for the NEAR community to help raise awareness for the brand and by providing support to the projects building on the protocol.

In addition to the communities established in Asia, Africa and Europe, NEAR is also looking to