NEAR Protocol is a decentralized application platform designed to provide developers, businesses and organizations with an easy way to build, operate, and scale decentralized applications.
Its sharded state-shards and adaptive base-layer protocol offers improved scalability, security and developer experience while preserving decentralization. By enabling smart contracts, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), data management, ecommerce transactions, identity management and more on the same blockchain platform, NEAR reduces the complexity of developing for business applications in the decentralized web.
Check out some of the best dApps on NEAR Protocol below.
Proof-of-stake
The NEAR Protocol is an advanced Level 1 blockchain that is optimized for running smart contracts and decentralized applications.
It was created by the NEAR Collective, an extensive collaboration of people and companies who are creating one of the most ambitious open-source projects in this space. The goal of the NEAR Protocol is to build something friendly for both developers and end-users so that anyone can take part in the ecosystem, even if they don't have an extensive technical background.
This means that users won't be left behind due to a steep learning curve.
One major focus of the NEAR Protocol is scalability. If a blockchain isn't capable of handling large volumes of transactions without becoming bogged down, it cannot achieve widespread use or become a viable platform for development.
To tackle this issue head-on, some members of the team have experience building a scalable database system using sharding technology. By doing this, they are able to greatly increase transaction throughput while also reducing costs.
This innovative approach makes them well-positioned not only to provide a high level of security but to help make blockchain more accessible to everyone across all industries
There is no one best dApp on NEAR or any other blockchain. The utility variety with dApps is extreme. And the best dApp is really the one that solves your specific needs.
If you want to find the best dApp for you, use the above filterable list of the best NEAR protocol dapps. If you don't have time, I've pulled a couple of the most popular NEAR dApps into a quick list below.
NEAR based NFT marketplace
Mintbase is a decentralized NFT platform built on the NEAR protocol, providing users with a powerful way to create and manage their own digital collectibles, NFT collections and assets.
With Mintbase creators can mint one-of-a-kind NFTs for games, art, community assets, crypto assets and more. The whole platform is open source and fully decentralized meaning that users have total control over their assets.
Another great feature available on Mintbase is something referred to as Stores. This unique feature allows users to create their own smart contracts independently and add other NFT minters to it across different platforms.
Additionally, the Mintbase Launchpad serves as the place where users can feature other NFT creators for everyone in the network to see.
Cross-chain protocol
Aurora is a revolutionary project that bridges the NEAR and Ethereum ecosystems. It enables compatibility between the two, allowing developers and projects on either platform access to applications from the other. This means developers have much greater flexibility in how they use and develop their decentralized applications.
The bridge also eliminates annoying fees for users of Ethereum-based applications, who are no doubt familiar with increasingly high transaction prices over time. By using Aurora to connect, Ethereum users benefit from NEAR's improved speeds and scalability as well as its low fees, making it possible for them to transact without having to pay an exorbitant sum. With so many advantages, Aurora is bound to revolutionize the world of blockchain and open up tons of exciting opportunities for everyone involved.
Defi on Near
Ref Finance is a platform that provides services related to the NEAR token, used in decentralized finance (DeFi). Built by Illia Polosukhin and expanded by Proximity Labs through funding from the NEAR Foundation, Ref Finance provides an automated market maker DEX for permissionless digital asset exchange.
Through liquidity pools users can take part in exchanges, lending and investment opportunities such as farming liquidity pools.
The exponential growth of the DeFi sector has seen Refinance become a popular choice among investors looking to build their portfolio as they can exchange assets freely with other traders while having access to a range of extra features like loaning and investments.
Refinance also prides itself on its transparent fee structure and low count fees based on each individual asset trade; making it an attractive option for people looking to make profits off digital assets.
NEAR Protocol does not rely on the expensive enterprise-grade hardware that other blockchains require, but instead utilizes commodity servers for its operation. This makes it much easier for developers to work on the network and deploy applications, as well as a cost savings from having to purchase high-end hardware components.
Additionally, NEAR’s consensus algorithm also allows for faster transactions and better scalability compared to other blockchains that could have bottlenecks caused by their limited performance.
Besides being more accessible in terms of resource requirements, the NEAR Protocol also encourages faster transaction speeds with its POS (proof of stake) model that rewards validators when they successfully validate transactions on the network.
This ensures that the network functions quickly and efficiently so users can experience near real-time operations with their blockchain-based applications. Furthermore, NEAR Protocol also has a built-in staking mechanism which helps to secure the network while allowing users to earn an additional income if they decide to stake their tokens in return for validating blocks.
1. Better security for data and communications; Near protocol uses end-to-end encryption, which allows users to securely communicate and share their data with other trusted parties.
2. Reduced complexity; compared to other protocols and remote access technologies, Near protocol requires fewer steps to set up and maintain than many of its alternatives.
3. Cost savings; the cost of implementing a Near protocol is significantly lower than alternative remote access solutions, such as VPNs or SSH tunnels.
4. Increased efficiency; Near protocol provides quicker response times due to reduced latency and more efficient network traffic routing methods.
5. Enhanced scalability; the distributed nature of the technology ensures that your infrastructure can handle large volumes of incoming requests and is resilient in the face of rapid growth or peak traffic periods.
1. Cost: The cost of the hardware and associated technologies needed to run the NEAR protocol is significant, which can make it unaffordable for some users.
2. Security Risks: The data stored on a network running the NEAR protocol may be exposed to hackers or malicious actors if proper security measures are not taken.
3. Performance Issues: Performance issues can arise due to heavy traffic on the network or bad code being used in applications built on the NEAR protocol.
4. Unclear Rules and Regulations: Due to its decentralization, it is unclear how the rules and regulations related to using the NEAR protocol are set and enforced, which could open up the possibility of abuse by malicious actors.
1. Peer-to-peer network: All nodes in the network have the same privileges, and no single node has control over the majority of consensus power.
2. Temporal proof-of-stake (TPoS): Consensus is achieved through a hybrid consensus algorithm that combines proof-of-stake (PoS) and temporal proof-of-stake (TPoS).
3. Shared public ledger: All transactions are recorded on a global, shared public ledger.
4. Near Protocol Token (NPT): The NPT token is used to reward participants who secure and maintain the blockchain, and can be staked to participate in consensus and governance decisions.
5. Virtual Machine (VM): Every transaction submitted to the blockchain is executed on a built-in virtual machine – called Fun Times – which allows developers to create custom smart contracts tailored specifically for their use case.
6. Sharding: By utilizing sharding technology, it ensures that network throughput keeps up with increased demand and reduces latency across the entire blockchain network
The Near protocol blockchain include fees for data storage, execution of smart contracts, and the transaction of tokens.
Data storage fees are charged according to how much data is stored in the blockchain. Execution fees are the charges for running a smart contract on the blockchain.
Lastly, token transaction fees are charges for transferring tokens between accounts. By setting such a fee structure, Near encourages users to store only necessary data, and discourage too many transactions that can congest the system or lead to excessive gas costs.
Yes, NEAR protocol has it's own token called the NEAR Protocol coin
The NEAR Protocol Coin is a digital asset that serves as the native currency of the NEAR Protocol blockchain. It provides user with a secure and fast way to enable transactions on decentralized applications on the network.
The coin's ticker is simply referred to as 'NEAR', and it offers more transactional efficiency than many other competing networks thanks to its advanced technology and consensus mechanism, which uses Proof-of-Stake.
In addition, the coin is designed to be highly divisible, allowing for cost efficient micro-payments without impacting user's wallets too greatly.
It also allows users to stake their coins in order earninterest payments on top of their holdings; this greatly increases the potential value proposition of using the NEAR network over others that don't provide such features. All in all, NEAR is an extremely robust crypto asset that offers plenty of exciting use cases for users around the world.
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