NEAR Protocol is a decentralized application platform. It was created with the aim of being a community-run cloud computing platform with a focus on developer-usability and user-friendliness. The platform uses a Proof-of-Stake consensus mechanism and sharding technology in an attempt to solve blockchain problems related to scalability. Its native NEAR tokens can be used to pay for transaction fees and storage on the Near platform.

What are NEAR key features and how does it work?

As mentioned, NEAR Protocol attempts to offer a solution to blockchain scalability issues. It does this using a unique solution, that is with the implementation of its sharding mechanism called Nightshade. Sharding works by splitting the network into smaller fragments, or shards. By doing this, the computational load on a node is reduced since a particular node is only required to run the code that is relevant to its shard. As such, shards can conduct computation in parallel with one another. Consensus is achieved via a Proof-of-Stake mechanism. With PoS, nodes must stake their NEAR tokens to be considered to become a validator. Alternatively, regular users can delegate their stake to validators of their choice. NEAR uses an auction system to choose validators every “epoch” (approximately every 12 hours), and validators who have larger stakes have more influence in the consensus process.

The NEAR token’s main function is for paying transaction fees or for being used as collateral when storing data on the blockchain. Various groups of NEAR platform stakeholders are also rewarded with NEAR tokens. For example, validators receive a NEAR token reward every epoch. Additionally, developers that create smart contracts receive a percentage of the transaction fees that their contracts generate. The remaining part of the transaction fee is burned, thus, increasing the scarcity of the NEAR token and helping to retain its value. 

NEAR Protocol is capable of supporting tokens that are “wrapped” from other chains in addition to NFTs. Likewise, NEAR has constructed a bridge with Ethereum, allowing users to transfer ERC-20 tokens from Ethereum to NEAR.

What can Near Protocol be used for?

Near has a number of use cases across a variety of sectors. Some prominent projects already developing on the platform include Flux, which is an open market protocol, Mintbase, a platform for NFT issuing and selling, as well as Paras, a marketplace targeting higher quality NFTs by selected artists.

Where can you buy NEAR?

Near can be bought from any of the CEXs and DEXs as listed here.