Exciting dapps being built on NEAR blockchain The NEAR blockchain has been gaining a lot of attention lately as a developer-friendly and scalable layer 1 blockchain. This has led to many interesting dapps choosing to build on NEAR. In this article, we will highlight some of the top dapps across various categories like NFTs, DeFi, and gaming. For NFT enthusiasts, Mintbase is a popular marketplace to mint and trade NFTs on NEAR. It stands out for its clean and easy to use interface. Artists enjoy low minting fees compared to Ethereum gas costs. Major brands like Liverpool FC have already entered NEAR NFTs through Mintbase. Other options include Paras NFT marketplace where you can trade digital collectible cards. JJMART is a general NFT platform for artists and collectors. On the DeFi side, Ref Finance is a fast decentralized exchange that allows trading across assets on NEAR and other chains like Ethereum. You can even use NEAR tokens to pay Ethereum gas fees! For lending and borrowing of NEAR tokens, NearPad Finance and Skyward Finance are two leading options that offer attractive yields. Gaming dapps are picking up too. Paras cards let you battle other players and trade rare NFT cards much like digital Pokemon cards. MetaIsland is bringing real estate to NEAR through a metaverse game where you can buy land NFTs and develop them. Flux Protocol is another dapp to watch that is building a decentralized compute network. This will enable complex dapps on NEAR with AI, rendering and streaming features. NEAR's scalability, low fees and carbon neutrality make it stand out from other layer 1s. As the ecosystem expands, we can expect more developers to build on NEAR across DeFi, NFTs, gaming and other areas. Exciting times ahead as these dapps roll out mainnet products and gain adoption. NEAR has the potential to become a top blockchain for dapps with real-world usage.