Aurora is an EVM-compatible smart contract platform built on NEAR Protocol that runs on mainnet and uses ETH as the native gas token. It powers cost‑efficient DeFi, NFT/GameFi, and payments, and enables liquidity movement between Ethereum, NEAR, and Aurora via the trustless Rainbow Bridge. With sub‑cent average gas fees and ~1–2s finality, it’s suited to high‑frequency trading and other latency‑sensitive use cases.
Aurora uniquely combines full Ethereum tooling with NEAR’s performance: typical transaction fees are under $0.01, block times are ~1s with ~2s finality, and throughput scales to thousands of TPS. Unlike many EVM chains, it uses ETH for gas and offers a trustless, permissionless bridge to Ethereum for seamless asset and message transfers. This blend of low fees, fast settlement, and native ETH gas makes it highly competitive versus other networks for DeFi and real‑time applications.
Aurora uses ETH as the gas token for transaction fees. You can obtain ETH by bridging from other chains or purchasing using thirdweb Bridge.
To bridge ETH to Aurora, connect your wallet to thirdweb bridge, select your source chain, choose the token you want to bridge, select Aurora as the destination, enter the amount, and confirm the transaction. The bridge will handle the cross-chain transfer instantly.
To build on Aurora you can use thirdweb, which provides an easy way to build, monetize and scale your apps, games or agents. You can find detailed guides and documentation on https://portal.thirdweb.com to get started quickly.
To add Aurora to your wallet, you can connect your wallet and click on [Add to Wallet] button at the top of the page. Alternatively, you can add the network manually using the RPC URL and chain details and add it to your wallet's network settings.
To send ETH on Aurora, ensure your wallet is connected to the Aurora network, enter the recipient's address, specify the amount of ETH to send, review the gas fee, and confirm the transaction in your wallet.