On July 29th, 2022, NEAR Foundation announced that wallet.near.org would be transformed into a new multi-wallet portal, and that Kikimora Labs, a venture studio and tech hub, would manage the codebase for the wallet sat on wallet.near.org.

After much discussion between Kikimora Labs, Pagoda, and the Foundation, it has been decided that the wallet should continue to be developed and implemented by the team at Pagoda with assistance from the Foundation.

Wallets are an essential part of any blockchain ecosystem. When NEAR first started, the Foundation built a wallet that was simple to use, and easy to implement. Since then, the number of wallets has flourished.

While there are lots of incredible wallets already serving the 20 million addresses currently on NEAR, the core wallet has continued to be a key piece of infrastructure on the NEAR ecosystem.

As a result, it has been decided that this wallet will be managed by the Foundation and Pagoda. This is part of the NEAR Foundation’s continued mission to foster a rich and vibrant ecosystem that can build and maintain its core components.

The original plan was to begin transitioning wallet.near.org into the multi-wallet portal. This work is still underway, as the Foundation believes users should be able to choose which wallet they prefer.

With that in mind, Pagoda will be gathering feedback from the community over the next few months and deciding on a more appropriate path forward. The Foundation believes this is the right move for the NEAR ecosystem.

There will be no changes on the wallet.near.org front until that point. As things progress, the NEAR Foundation will keep you, the NEAR community, in the loop with any and all future announcements related to the wallet transition process.