NEAR Protocol (NEAR) is still moving upwards after a strong rally in the previous session as market cheer the integration of Terra into its ecosystem which will bring the stablecoin TerraUSD (UST) to the network. At the time of writing, NEAR/USD is trading at around $13.96, up by over 10% in the past 24 hours.

The NEAR token touched an all-time high on Thursday following the partnership with Terra, especially with the UST fast gaining popularity among stablecoins. Recently, it overtook DAI to become the fourth largest stablecoin by market cap, rising in popularity among DeFi consumers across blockchains.

To recap, NEAR Protocol offers a Layer 1 dApp development ecosystem, similar to Ethereum, but offers higher levels of efficiency on account of its PoS consensus mechanism known as Nightshade, which works to offer dynamic levels of scalability and far more stability in terms of gas fees. Moreover, it leverages the power of its community for cloud computer, offering an attractive ecosystem for Web 3.0 projects which are keen on true decentralization.

How Will NEAR Protocol’s DeFi Capabilities Be Boosted By TerraUST Integration?

While it ranks number 32 in terms of DeFi TVL as per data on DefiLlama with only two protocols hosted on its network, the NEAR Protocol saw the TVL soar by nearly 40% since the previous session following the introduction of the UST stablecoin. NEAR-based DEX NearPad and stablecoin and wrapped assets swap product Aurora will now let its users deposit UST liquidity within their respective platforms to earn incentives which can go on to benefit the entire NEAR community.

The partnership can further develop the DeFi ecosystems on both the NEAR and Terra networks going forward, enabling both communities to discover more use cases for stablecoins in addition to vastly boosting liquidity for the UST coin. Analysts expect more growth to NEAR’s DeFi capabilities, especially following the launch of the Aurora EVM solution recently, so we could anticipate more news of integrations and partnerships like this one in the coming months, which could offer considerable support to the NEAR token.

NEAR/USD Technical Analysis

According to the host of the popular YouTube show Coin Bureau, Guy, NEAR Protocol’s native token could see one more strong rally before the end of the bull market. He praised the network’s scalability and stability over that of Ethereum and how it can be a far more lucrative platform for developers to build dApps on at lower costs.

On the 4-hour chart of NEAR/USD, we find a strong bullish bias among moving averages and the MACD. Although, the momentum indicator points to some interest among sellers as well.

NEAR Protocol’s price holds above the pivot point at $11.53 and seems to be getting ready for a test of the immediate resistance coming up soon at $14.98. We need to see if buying pressure can sustain for a break past this level towards new ATHs until the second resistance at $20.96.