Introduction

The NEAR Protocol blockchain, more commonly known as "NEAR," was founded by Erick Trautman in 2018. The platform aims to facilitate the transition from Web2 to Web3 by providing infrastructure to help developers create decentralized applications (Dapps).

Over its years of existence, the NEAR protocol has managed to reinvent itself by positioning itself on different narratives, so much so that the NEAR token is currently ranked 20th in terms of market cap according to CoinGecko.

With renowned partnerships such as Google, Arbitrum, Eigenlayer, and Polygon, to name a few, NEAR aims to democratize access to the Web3 world by minimizing friction for the end user.

Problem: the blockchain trilemma

What Does Near Propose?

The NEAR blockchain was initially designed to address a common major issue faced by all blockchains: the blockchain trilemma between scalability, security and decentralization.

This problem, reputed to be unsolvable, starts from the principle that when a blockchain is decentralized and secure, it cannot be scalable. In other words, transactions would be slow and expensive.

For this example, we can take the Bitcoin network, which is the most secure and decentralized of all, but because of its design, it cannot scale up and therefore cannot handle a large number of transactions per second.

Conversely, the Solana blockchain is very scalable and secure, making it a good choice in terms of execution speed and cost but suffers from a very high centralization of its nodes.

To put it simply, the perfect blockchain does not exist and cannot excel in all areas. However, this is the promise NEAR made during its launch: to solve the blockchain trilemma.

NEAR Protocol is a layer 1 blockchain that operates on Proof of Stake (PoS), allowing it to process transactions faster than a Proof of Work (PoW) network.

To give you a comparison, the Bitcoin network processes an average of 10 transactions per second (tp/s), while the NEAR network boasts the ability to handle 100,000 tp/s.

Following the narrative of resolving the blockchain trilemma, NEAR aims to provide an all-in-one infrastructure called the Blockchain Operating System (BOS) with the ambition to become the "Windows" of blockchain.

Scalability of NEAR:

The high scalability of NEAR comes from its exclusive sharding protocol, which horizontally divides data into "smaller chunks." This makes the data lighter and less energy-intensive, and it is no longer located on a single node.

The node's response is also faster: instead of searching for data in a long list, the node goes directly to the appropriate list, which contains only a specific category of data.

The NEAR team has created an improved version of sharding called Nightshade Sharding. In this system, nodes do not download a complete block but only the shards they validate.

Thanks to this system, NEAR claims to handle 100,000 transactions per second.

NEAR, the Blockchain for Transitioning from Web2 to Web3?

The main objective of NEAR has evolved over time, with the project positioning itself on trending narratives to avoid missing various hypes in the crypto ecosystem.

Facilitating developers' work by providing an all-in-one infrastructure remains at the forefront of NEAR's concerns. NEAR offers solutions for creating smart contracts and decentralized applications (Dapps).

By allowing developers to build on its ecosystem using Rust and Javascript, NEAR enables a broader range of developers to get involved in the future of Web3.

As a result, nearly 1,900 developers have been or are currently involved in the NEAR ecosystem, with close to 300 applications!

Similarly, the NEAR ecosystem is not limited to its blockchain. NEAR University and NEAR Academy implement resources to train and support developers of different levels as they integrate into Web3.

Blockchain Abstraction:

Today, NEAR is positioning itself on a new narrative by promising the "abstracted blockchain," which means using blockchain technology seamlessly for a smooth and enjoyable user experience.

For mass adoption, the average person needs to be able to navigate Web3 without worrying about technological constraints and psychological barriers.

In a world where holding private keys is not feasible for everyone, performing a bridge and "wrapping" tokens to use an application is certainly not either.

With this in mind, NEAR is attempting to develop an abstracted blockchain to benefit from the technological advancements this solution offers without the inherent difficulties.

Let's look at a concrete example to understand the evolution NEAR wants to implement:

• Killian wants to buy an NFT on the Polygon network worth $1,000. Unfortunately, his liquidity is fragmented, and he only has $200 on Polygon, $400 on Arbitrum, and $400 on the NEAR network.

• To get the liquidity needed for his purchase, Killian must transfer all his funds to the Polygon blockchain so he has $1,000 there.

• To do this, he will need to perform at least two bridges, with gas fees for each transaction on two different networks.

Thus, to obtain his NFT, multiple transactions are required...

Now, let's look at the solution NEAR is developing:

• Here, we have the same initial situation with liquidity scattered across different blockchains.

• Killian uses the solution provided by NEAR and validates only one transaction, so all the previously mentioned steps are completed automatically.

As a result, with a single transaction, he can acquire the NFT without worrying about having the necessary gas on each network to perform the bridges. It's essentially a super-interoperable aggregator combined with all the latest blockchain technological advancements!

Tokenomics

Let's now look at the tokenomics of NEAR Protocol and the various uses of its token, NEAR. The NEAR token has several uses:

• It is used to pay transaction fees.

• Validators are compensated in NEAR tokens.

• It has a governance role within the ecosystem.

• The initial total supply of NEAR is 1,000,000,000 tokens with inflation expected to never exceed 5%, so the current supply is 1,183,144,787 tokens according to CoinGecko. The inflation mechanism is controlled by an automatic burn system of 70% of the collected transaction fees.

NEAR network validators are rewarded with an Annual Percentage Yield (APY) of approximately 8.6%.

The NEAR token also provides governance power within the NEAR ecosystem, allowing participation in various votes that shape the project.

Here is a graph representing the distribution of the NEAR token:

Before investing in a token, it is important to take a look at the release schedule of the tokens:

Partnerships and Fundraising:

During its various fundraising rounds, NEAR has successfully raised over $567 million.

Following a successful Initial Coin Offering (ICO) in 2020 with its community, the project attracted well-known investors from the ecosystem such as Coinbase Ventures, Pantera Capital, and Three-Arrows Capital (3AC)…

We can confidently say that the financial resources allocated to developing the NEAR ecosystem are substantial.

As for the latest partnerships, here’s a look at NEAR’s impressive list of achievements:

As you can see, NEAR has partnered with major names in the crypto ecosystem, including Eigenlayer, Arbitrum, Cosmos, and Polygon, among others…

But it has also partnered with giants of Web2, such as Google and Alibaba, demonstrating NEAR’s aim to bridge the gap between the two worlds and democratize Web3.

The Team:

Near Protocol was founded by Alexander Skidanov and Illia Polosukhin, two visionaries seeking to overcome the limitations of existing blockchains and to foster widespread adoption.

Skidanov, with experience at Microsoft and MemSQL, brought expertise in software development and scalability, crucial for creating the Near platform.

Polosukhin, an artificial intelligence specialist who worked at OpenAI, contributed his skills in AI and machine learning.

Together, their passion and expertise laid the foundation for Near Protocol. Supported by a diverse team of developers, cryptographers, and marketing specialists, they have made Near Protocol one of the most promising blockchains on the market.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, NEAR Protocol positions itself as an innovative blockchain striving to address traditional blockchain challenges through its advanced architecture and technologies, such as sharding. With impressive scalability and a developer-centric approach, NEAR has garnered attention and investment from major industry players and Web2 giants, demonstrating its potential to bridge the gap to Web3.

NEAR’s tokenomics, with a controlled initial supply and automatic burn mechanisms, provides strong incentives for validators and governance participants while ensuring economic stability for the token. The ongoing efforts to make the blockchain accessible and user-friendly, without technical complexities, reflect NEAR’s commitment to widespread adoption.

Finally, with an experienced and visionary founding team, supported by an active community and strategic partners, NEAR is well-positioned to continue innovating and growing.