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). The protocol 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, giving access to higher throughput and lower transaction fees.

 

The native token of the NEAR Ecosystem is the ERC-20 token NEAR used for paying transaction fees and securing the network through staking.

 

Built by the NEAR Collective, the NEAR Protocol was co-founded by Alex Skidanov and Illia Polosukhin in 2020