NEAR Protocol/NEAR#40 88

What is Near Protocol (NEAR)?

NEAR Protocol (NEAR) is a decentralized layer-1 Proof-Of-Stake blockchain network designed as a community-run cloud computing platform, with “NEAR” as its native token. The protocol overcomes limitations in traditional blockchain networks such as scalability, cost efficiency, and interoperability. 

Also referred to as a well-designed layer blockchain and a challenger to the Ethereum network. The NEAR Token is used to cover gas fees, collateral for storing data, and incentivize participants in the blockchain ecosystem. 

Near protocol prioritizes features that emphasize the user experience, such as replacing cryptographic wallet addresses with human-readable account names for free, making it easier to interact with the blockchain. The platform also provides robust and easy-to-use tools for developers to build decentralized applications (dApps) across sectors, including decentralized finance (DeFi), NFTs, payments, and gaming, offering a versatile environment for innovation.

By utilizing the sharding technology called “Simple Nightshade” and a block finalization mechanism called "Doomslug," Near can handle transactions up to 100,000 TPS, which is 10 times higher than the Ethereum platform. 

The platform can handle the growing user base by scaling millions of computers across the globe without compromising its performance.

Its DAO structure enables validators and delegators to participate in securing the network and shaping the future of the protocol.

The Near team also introduced a cross-chain interoperability protocol called ”Rainbow Bridge,” which simplifies the Ethereum to NEAR transactions by transferring the assets between the platforms. 

The operations of Near Protocol are handled by “Near Foundation,” a non-profit organization whose founder and CEO is Illia Polosukhin in 2020. While Illia is a key member in building the blockchain, he took the position of CEO in 2023 after former CEO Marieke Flament stepped down. As per the whitepaper, the Near Portfolio aims to offer an ecosystem that is secure enough to store high-value assets or user identities, along with providing users with quick access, effortless transactions, and a user-friendly interface. 

What is the History Of Near Protocol(NEAR)?

Near Protocol was founded by current CEO Illia Polosukhin, a former Google employee (as of October 2024), and Alexander Skidanova, a former software developer at Microsoft and MemSQL. The ecosystem was founded in 2017. 

Near Protocol was first planned to be an AI project named Near.AI built on the Ethereum Blockchain, which was into machine learning languages and developing models and tools needed to build advanced AI. However, insufficient technological advancement on Ethereum determined the founders to transition to a separate blockchain network, which started in 2018.

The Near Protocol Mainnet was launched in April 2020 with the coin name "NEAR,” with the last phase of the Mainnet launch program (token transfers) in October 2020.

• In 2021, Near announced the “Simple Nightshade” technology, which started Phase Zero of the sharding technology. 
• One year later, in September 2022, Near announced it would be moving to Phase One, named “Chuck Only Producers,” in which special validators are selected who work on one specific shard (part of the blockchain) rather than the entire blockchain, increasing the number of validators and reducing hardware costs.
• On January 30, 2024, Near announced the testing of Phase Two, named "Nightshade,” by introducing stateless validation, where when a validator needs specific data related to a state change, it can retrieve that data directly from the network, resulting in increased throughput and decentralization while securing the highest security guarantees. 
• On February 1, 2024, a design was launched named “Stake Wars IV-Attack of Transactions” to incentivize community participation in the testing of new sharding architecture.
• “Nearcore v1.36.0," a software upgrade to the Near Protocols core, was released on October 31, 2023, bringing significant updates to the NEAR Protocol, which included a protocol change, a protocol upgrade, a database upgrade to enhance support for state sync, along with several non-protocol improvements.
• “Nearcore v1.36.5” was released on January 31, 2024, and addressed a bug related to shard management, which, if exploited, could cause a node to crash, ensuring greater stability for the network. 

Rainbow Bridge 

• In March 2021, the NEAR<>ETH bridge was introduced, naming it ”Rainbow Bridge." This bridge was launched to seamlessly migrate assets to NEAR’s developer-friendly platform without compromising on speed. 
• On November 20, 2023, Near announced the launch of Near DA (Data Availability), a solution from the NEAR Foundation designed to help Ethereum rollups (a layer-2 scaling technology on Ethereum) by offering a reliable and cost-efficient way to store and retrieve data.

How does Near Protocol Work?

Near Protocol is a smart contract platform designed to improve upon Ethereum. This is accomplished through a structure known as Nightshade, where the blockchain is divided into smaller units called sub-chains. Separate validators are responsible for verifying these sub-chains simultaneously, resulting in an increasing number of transactions with higher scalability.

Doomslug is a consensus mechanism used in the NEAR Protocol to enhance the efficiency and speed of block finalization. Unlike traditional proof-of-stake systems that require extensive competition among validators based on their stake, Doomslug employs a two-round consensus process.

In this model, a block can be considered finalized after receiving confirmation in the first round of communication among validators, leading to near-instantaneous finality, reducing the time required for transactions to be confirmed, and making the NEAR network faster and more scalable. 

Validators play an important role in processing transactions and producing new blocks. A user has to stake some amount (67,000 $NEAR) of coins and requires minimum hardware requirements (8-core CPU, 20GB RAM, and 1TB SSD storage.) to become a validator. Responsibilities include validating all shards and ensuring network integrity, security, and governance.

NEAR COIN Price Performance Highlights

NEAR Coin, the digital currency of the NEAR protocol, is primarily used to execute smart contracts and reward validators and developers. It has a 5% inflation rate per year. 

The NEAR coin was launched through an Initial Coin Offering (ICO) in October 2020 on the Coinlist Exchange Platform with an initial price of $0.40. It was launched shortly after the mainnet launch (April 2020), with the creation of 1 billion NEAR tokens at Genesis. 

An additional 5% supply is issued annually as epoch rewards to support the network, with 90% (4.5% total) going to validators and 10% (0.5% total) to the protocol Treasury. For each transaction, 30% of the fees are rebated to the contracts involved, while 70% are burned. 

As of 2024, NEAR has a total supply of 1.2 billion coins and 1.11 billion as a circulating supply. The NEAR token reached an all-time high of $20.44 on January 16, 2022, and hit an all-time low of $0.53 on November 4, 2020.

1 billion NEAR tokens were distributed during the genesis block as follows:

• 17.2% - Community Grants

• 11.4%: Operation Grants

• 10% Foundation Endowment

• 11.7% Early Ecosystem

• 14% - Core Contributors

• 17.6% - Backers

• 6.1% - Small Backers

• 12% - Community Sale

Near Protocol has an impressive track record of successful funding series. As of October 2024, Near Protocol has raised over $1.1 billion of funding through various venture capitalists and ICOs. 

It has raised over $35 million during the period 2019-20 and an additional $500 million in 2022 through various major funding VCs like Dragonfly Capitals, Coinbase Ventures, and Tiger Global. It has also raised around $40 million during the ICO round.

NEAR at NVIDIA GTC 2024: A Recap of Illinois’s Appearance:

At NVIDIA GTC 2024—the flagship conference of the AI hardware supercompany in San Jose, California—the spotlight was on the intersection of AI, blockchain, and the next era of open web innovation. 

Among the distinguished speakers was Illia Polosukhin, co-founder of NEAR Protocol, who contributed his insights into how AI models will evolve and how blockchain and token economies can play key roles.vPolosukhin is the only blockchain industry founder to speak at the NVIDIA event. 

The “Transforming AI” panel was hosted by Jensen Huang, CEO and co-founder of NVIDIA, the most valuable company in the world as of 2024.

Where can I buy the NEAR token?

Currently, as of  2024, NEAR tokens are listed on 124 exchange platforms, of which up to 92 exchanges are CEX and 32 are DEX, some of the platforms like Coinbase and Binance. US, Kraken, Gemini, etc. are available to USA users.

Popular exchange platforms for trading NEAR protocol are Binance, KuCoin, Gate.io, Huobi, and MEXC.

Some of the common exchange pairs involve NEAR/USDT (Tether), NEAR/BTC (Bitcoin), NEAR/ETH (Ethereum), NEAR/USD (US Dollar), and NEAR/USDC (USD Coin). 

What Wallets support NEAR Coin?

The platform offers various types of wallets to store the Near Coins. Some of the community-built wallets on the blockchain are as follows

• MyNearWallet: Browser-based wallet
• Meteor Wallet: Browser and extension wallet
• Sender Wallet: Mobile & Extension Wallet
• HERE Wallet: Non-custodial mobile wallet
• Nightly Wallet: Mobile and extension wallet
• WELL DONE Wallet: Multi-chain extension wallet
• NEAR Mobile: Non-custodial mobile wallet
• Mint base Wallet: Passkey meta transaction browser wallet

NEAR Coin Prediction

As per Coinpedia, looking ahead from the years 2025-2030, NEAR price predictions could be as follows:

• In 2025, the NEAR price is projected to hit a peak of $10.01, with a potential low of $4.65 and an average price of around $7.35.

• Moving ahead in 2026, the NEAR price is projected to hit a peak of $13.32, with a potential low of $6.98 and an average price of around $10.15.

• In 2027, the NEAR price is projected to hit a peak of $16.14, with a potential low of $9.32 and an average price of around $12.73.

• In 2028, the NEAR price is projected to hit a peak of $19.63, with a potential low of $12.98 and an average price of around $16.30.

• In 2029, the NEAR price is projected to hit a peak of $22.90, with a potential low of $17.41 and an average price of around $20.15.

• In 2030, the NEAR price is projected to hit a peak of $26.43, with a potential low of $20.49 and an average price of around $23.46.