What Is Near Protocol?
NEAR Protocol is a Layer 1, smart-contract enabled, delegated proof-of-stake blockchain that is designed to be user/developer friendly and usher in the next generation of dApps (Decentralized Applications). The protocol was created in 2017 by former Microsoft software developer Alexander Skidanov and former engineering manager at Google Research, Ilya Polosukhin with the mainnet going live in early 2020. NEAR intends to scale its network using sharding, a technology which splits a blockchain’s network into smaller partitions to improve latency. The native token on the network is called $NEAR. It is primarily used within the ecosystem to pay for transaction fees and as collateral for storing data on the blockchain. Holders can also stake their NEAR tokens via their native, web-based wallet.
Nightshade
How can a network scale to handle increased transaction activity without compromising on security and decentralization? NEAR’s solution to this problem is what they have termed ‘Nightshade Sharding’. Phase 0 (Simple Nightshade) of this implementation was launched in November, 2021 and this was a major milestone for the network as it embarked on a journey towards becoming a fully sharded blockchain that will be super-fast, very secure, and capable of onboarding millions of users into the world of Web3.
The initial Nightshade phase shards the state, significantly increasing the throughput of the network up to 100,0000 transactions per second, with near instant finality (less than 2 seconds) and transactions which cost just a fraction of a cent. With the implementation of Nightshade, NEAR has built a mechanism to split a shard into multiple parts through live upgrades. While sharding technology is not unique to NEAR, it’s aiming to take things to the next level by introducing what is known as ‘dynamic sharding’ in a future phase of the implementation (scheduled for Q4, 2022). This is a process by which the number of shards on the blockchain is not static, rather adjustable based on user demand, enabling transaction fees and throughput to be optimized at all times.
While there are many new blockchains and layer 2 solutions claiming to have thousands of transactions per second, due to their non-sharded designs they will all hit an upper limit of what their network can eventually handle. NEAR’s Nightshade sharding allows the protocol to scale linearly with the number of shards, thereby having the ability to satisfy the demand for more transactions as the number of users increase. Ultimately it prepares NEAR for the mass adoption of billions of users.
Aurora
Aurora is an EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine) built on the NEAR Protocol, delivering a turn-key solution for developers to operate their apps on an Ethereum-compatible, high-throughput, scalable and future-safe platform, with low transaction costs for their users.
In December, 2021 Aurora announced an important partnership with ConsenSys, the enterprise blockchain company, to provide access to its suite of developer tools including Metamask, Infura, Truffel and more. Aurora provides an Ethereum Layer 2-like experience for both users and developers and is a vital part of the ongoing development of the NEAR ecosystem.
Wallet Support
The NEAR wallet is an easy-to-use, non-custodial, web-based wallet for the NEAR blockchain….
