Aurora is a solution designed to facilitate the migration of Ethereum users and decentralized applications to the NEAR blockchain. It enables two primary functions: deploying and interacting with Solidity smart contracts on NEAR, and transferring assets, such as ERC-20 tokens, across Ethereum, NEAR, and Aurora using the Rainbow Bridge.

To provide developers with familiar tools and optimize the user experience, Aurora uses ETH as its base token. The AURORA token serves as a governance instrument to manage protocol upgrades. Oversight is provided by AuroraDAO, which comprises representatives from various sectors and ecosystems within the blockchain industry.

The maximum supply is capped at 1,000,000,000 tokens (one billion $AURORA). The AURORA Token Generation Event took place on November 18, 2021.

Unlocked tokens include:

• 1% of the total supply designated for IDO, AMM pool deployment, market making, and early partnerships;
• 1% assigned to Aurora Labs as incentives for project advisors;
• 48% held in the AuroraDAO balance for future initiatives;
• 20% reserved in the community treasury;
• 3% allocated to Aurora Labs for linear distribution to NEAR Aurora validator delegators.

Locked tokens consist of:

• 16% for Aurora Labs long-term incentives (potentially subject to vesting);
• 2% for early Aurora contributors (potentially subject to vesting);
• 9% for Aurora Labs private round investors.

These locked tokens follow a 2-year unlocking schedule featuring a 6-month cliff and linear unlocks every 3 months thereafter. Specifically, 25% unlocks after 6 months, followed by an additional 12.5% at 9, 12, 15, 18, 21, and 24 months from the launch date.

Dr. Alex Shevchenko serves as the CEO of Aurora Labs. He holds a Ph.D. in physics and math, is an entrepreneur, and has been involved in blockchain since 2015. He previously developed Bitfury’s Exonum and strongly supports blockchain scalability solutions.

Arto Bendiken is the CTO of Aurora Labs. An autodidact, cypherpunk, and entrepreneur, he is a prolific open-source author with more than 20 years of professional software engineering experience. His background includes work with the European Space Agency (ESA) and the U.S. Navy’s Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR).

Frank Braun leads Security & Infrastructure at Aurora Labs. He holds a Ph.D. in computer science and brings over 20 years of experience in constructing complex software systems. His past work covers scientific software, encrypted messaging systems, and digital currencies.

Joshua J. Bouw is the Engine Team Lead at Aurora Labs. He has more than 10 years of experience combining crypto-economic design, software development, and open-source ecosystem creation. He is often called 'The Godfather of Proof of Stake' due to his early contributions to developing Proof of Stake Consensus Mechanisms.

Kirill Abramov serves as the Bridge Team Lead at Aurora Labs. A software engineer with over 6 years of experience in high-performance software development, he is passionate about the Blockchain space. His expertise includes developing custom blockchains, building hardware applications, and implementing cross-chain solutions.