TL;DR
NEAR Protocol is a layer-1 blockchain that uses Nightshade, a unique sharding technology, to achieve scalability. It was launched in 2020 as a decentralized cloud infrastructure to host decentralized applications (DApps).
NEAR offers cross-chain interoperability through the Rainbow Bridge and a layer-2 solution called Aurora. Users can bridge ERC-20 tokens and assets from the Ethereum blockchain to the NEAR Protocol network, which gives them access to higher throughput and lower transaction fees.
NEAR is the native token of the NEAR Protocol. It’s used for paying transaction and data storage fees. NEAR token holders can also stake their tokens on the NEAR wallet to receive rewards or use them to vote for governance proposals.
Introduction
While there are several teams exploring different scaling solutions for blockchain networks, the NEAR Protocol (NEAR) team is focused on addressing the limitations through sharding.
What is NEAR Protocol?
The NEAR platform contains a wide range of programming tools and languages, as well as smart contracts with cross-chain functionality to help developers build DApps. The platform counts with a simplified onboarding process and features human-readable account names instead of cryptographic wallet addresses. As a PoS blockchain, NEAR was awarded the Climate Neutral Product Label in 2021 for being carbon neutral.
How does NEAR Protocol work?
To compete with other smart contract-enabled blockchains like Ethereum, EOS, and Polkadot, NEAR implements several features in its ecosystem to enhance its performance.
Nightshade Sharding
On NEAR, Nightshade utilizes block producers and validators to process transaction data in parallel across multiple shards. Each shard will produce a fraction of the next block. Each fraction is called a chunk. These chunks are then processed and stored on the NEAR Protocol blockchain to finalize the transactions they contain.
In theory, Nightshade may allow NEAR to handle millions of transactions per second without affecting its performance. Depending on the network condition, it will dynamically split and merge shards based on network traffic and use of resources. When the network is at a high capacity, the number of nodes will increase. The overall efficiency can be maintained, and transaction fees can be kept low.
Rainbow Bridge
The Rainbow Bridge is fully permissionless and decentralized. To bridge tokens, users can send ERC-20 assets directly from MetaMask or other Web3 wallets to the NEAR Wallet and vice-versa. First, they need to deposit the token in an Ethereum smart contract. Since direct token transfer is not possible between networks, the tokens will be locked and taken out of circulation on Ethereum. New tokens will be created on NEAR to represent the original ones. In this way, the total circulating supply of the token remains constant across both blockchains.
Aurora
Aurora is composed of the Aurora Engine and the Aurora Bridge. Aurora Engine is an Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) on the NEAR Protocol, meaning that it is compatible with Ethereum and supports all tools available in the Ethereum ecosystem. This makes it easier for developers to get started on NEAR without having to rewrite their DApps or learn how to work with new development tools. They can also use the Aurora Bridge (the same technology as the Rainbow Bridge) to seamlessly bridge their smart contracts and ERC-20 tokens between the Ethereum and NEAR Protocol blockchains. Users can also pay transaction fees with ETH on Aurora.
What is the NEAR token?
NEAR Protocol (NEAR) is the native token of the NEAR ecosystem. It’s an ERC-20 token with a max supply of 1 billion. NEAR can be used for paying transaction and storage fees on the network. Also, smart contract developers can receive a portion of the transaction fees their contract generates. To keep NEAR scarce, the remaining transaction fees will be burned.
How to buy NEAR on Binance?
1. Log in to your Binance account and click [Trade]. Select either the classic or advanced trading interface.
3. Go to the [Spot] box on the right and enter the amount of NEAR you wish to buy. You can use different order types to place the order. Select an order type, such as Market order, and click [Buy NEAR]. The NEAR tokens will be credited to your Spot Wallet.
Closing thoughts
As the blockchain space grows, platforms that can offer lower transaction costs and increased throughput will likely play an important role in mainstream adoption. NEAR’s scaling solutions can attract developers looking to build more efficient DeFi products and decentralized applications (DApps). The NEAR roadmap includes further sharding developments and layer-2 cross-chain solutions to further scale its blockchain and ultimately benefit developers and end-users.