NEAR is a layer-1 blockchain that is easy to use, lightning-fast and highly secure. NEAR actively assists users and developers in reimagining money, community, and creativity.
Deep dive into NEAR
NEAR is a decentralized application development platform (dApps). It is based on the NEAR Protocol, which employs a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus method to support its developer-friendly and sharded architecture. Its scalability and low-cost make it ideal for dApp developers. It’s also climate-neutral, meaning it’s a conscious effort to track, reduce, and offset its carbon footprint.
The platform includes several features that enable developing decentralized applications easier. It uses a variety of command-line interface (CLI) tools, is interoperable with a variety of wallet apps, and offers conformance modules to give developers a comprehensive, intuitive, and scalable infrastructure.
NEAR works as a “community-operated cloud” since its operations are dispersed over thousands of nodes. Rather than being a specialized, task-specific blockchain, NEAR is an all-purpose platform that allows developers to create a wide range of dApps. It competes with some of the most popular cryptocurrencies in the market, including Ethereum (ETH), Cardano (ADA), and Polkadot (DOT), as a layer-one protocol (DOT).
Why NEAR?
● Sharding: Bitcoin (BTC) requires each node to retain the entire blockchain’s history and validate every transaction, which might choke the whole network during periods of heavy activity. NEAR addresses this problem by separating the network and reducing the network’s capacity limits, allowing for more scalability. NEAR employs sharding, which divides data into smaller chunks for storage and enables the network to conduct computations in parallel, resulting in significantly higher throughput. Furthermore, while most other sharding strategies require complicated node hardware, NEAR plans its sharding so that its nodes are simple, light, and efficient for cloud hosting.
● Scalability: Many platforms achieve improved scalability by lowering decentralization and leveraging high-end technology to boost the network’s throughput, one of the main problems for all blockchain networks. The NEAR Protocol is not one of these efforts, and it can scale linearly to billions of users while maintaining decentralization. This sharding method provides scalability, and the network can run a limitless number of shards in parallel using a horizontal approach (mainly using its recent Doomslug consensus mechanism), making NEAR a tempting and versatile choice for constructing dApps. A network of designated validator nodes maintains each shard, and this division of labor allows for a more dynamic distribution of computational chores. The network’s capacity now stands at roughly 100,000 transactions per second.
Key Features:
● Developers: Using the contract-based account architecture, developers can include sophisticated permissions in their apps to sign transactions on behalf of users. NEAR’s infrastructure also provides a highly customizable environment, giving developers access to particular tools and encouraging them to design seamless programs. Furthermore, NEAR enables developers to preserve essential system services by permitting a protocol-level charge refund.
● End-users: NEAR provides a simple user interface, including a configurable account concept. The majority of decentralized systems need users to go through the time-consuming process of creating an account, a wallet, and managing their tokens. Even beginners who aren’t familiar with dApps can benefit from NEAR’s simplified onboarding approach, which doesn’t require several steps or pop-ups.
● Validators: The platform also enables projects to expand their products and improve end-user services. This is accomplished by allowing validators to use delegation features at the contract level. This makes NEAR an appealing location for validator node operation.
The NEAR design:
NEAR is divided into two layers: a blockchain layer and a runtime layer. The blockchain layer has virtual machines and fees, while the runtime layer accepts transactions without knowing their origin. The runtime layer does not understand the parent blockchain or sharding method.
NEAR also has a “Rainbow Bridge” that allows it to link to other blockchain networks. The ETH-NEAR Rainbow Bridge, for example, connects to the Ethereum (ETH) blockchain via a permissionless, trustless protocol. This allows developers and consumers to utilize Ethereum network resources without relying on anyone outside of the connected ecosystems.
Depending on their preferences and requirements, participants in the network can either use an existing bridge or create a new one. The bridge protocol also enables people to participate in maintaining an existing bridge without requiring permission.
The sharded architecture of Ethereum 2.0 is one of the most eagerly anticipated features. Unlike other blockchains attempting to solve the scalability problem, NEAR shards its network down to the block level rather than building additional blockchains or parachains. NEAR has already implemented this, and as the network’s repository of apps grows, this community-driven platform will be one to explore as the industry evolves.
(written by Catherine S Thomas)
Follow us on:
Twitter — @uniqartnft
Instagram — instagram.com/uniqart.io
Medium — UniqArt
Discord — https://discord.gg/D36Bk97MG3
