What is NEAR Protocol?

NEAR Protocol is a decentralized application platform designed to provide an ideal environment for developers and users by enhancing usability and scalability. Launched in April 2020 by Alex Skidanov and Illia Polosukhin, NEAR addresses common hurdles in blockchain adoption, such as poor user experience, low speeds, and high transaction costs. The platform utilizes a unique sharding technology called Nightshade to achieve global scalability. Its native token, NEAR, is used for transaction fees, storage management, and governance processes within the network.

How is NEAR Protocol useful?

NEAR Protocol focuses on simplicity and usability for both developers and users. It offers a developer-friendly environment with features like account abstraction, simplifying interactions for end-users and making blockchain technology more accessible. For decentralized application (DApp) developers, NEAR provides high speeds and low costs, supported by its innovative sharding mechanism. The platform is particularly attractive for building business applications, decentralized finance (DeFi) solutions, and other digital assets requiring robust and efficient infrastructure.

How does NEAR Protocol work?

NEAR employs Nightshade, a sharding technology that enhances network scalability by dividing it into multiple shards, each processing transactions and storing data in parallel. This design allows for significant increases in capacity and speed as demand grows. The platform uses a consensus mechanism called Doomslug, a variant of Proof of Stake (PoS), enabling rapid block production and ensuring quick finality. Validators are selected based on their stake of NEAR tokens, contributing to network security and governance.

NEAR Protocol milestones

• Mainnet Launch: Introduced a community-operated cloud computing platform in April 2020.

• Nightshade 2.0 Implementation: Enhanced scalability and reduced validator resource requirements.

• Blockchain Operating System (BOS): Launched an open-source system for seamless multi-chain development.

• NEAR Horizon: Introduced a Web3 startup accelerator to support ecosystem projects.

• NEAR Digital Collective (NDC) Elections: Established a decentralized governance framework.

• Stateless Validation Upgrade: Allowed validators to operate without storing the full blockchain state.

• Transaction Milestone: Surpassed 450 million transactions and 12.3 million unique addresses by mid-2024.

NEAR Protocol's continuous innovation and commitment to enhancing scalability, usability, and decentralization position it as a significant player in the blockchain space, driving broader adoption and development of decentralized applications.

Buy NEAR Protocol (NEAR) on BITmarkets.