near

About

We are a decentralized application platform designed to enable the open web of the future and power its economy. Our core mission is to bridge the gap for mainstream adoption of decentralized applications by providing a platform that is both performant and exceptionally user-friendly. We started our journey in 2017, initially as NEAR.ai, with a focus on program synthesis and artificial intelligence. However, our experiences with existing blockchain technologies led us to pivot and build our own blockchain – the NEAR Protocol – in 2018. The NEAR Foundation, a Swiss non-profit, was established in 2019 to foster the growth of our ecosystem and the development of the protocol. Our mainnet launched in April 2020 and became fully community-operated in September of the same year. At the heart of our innovation is a technology called Nightshade sharding, which allows us to scale the network efficiently, processing a high volume of transactions per second while keeping fees low. This sharding mechanism divides the network's infrastructure into segments, enabling nodes to handle only a portion of the network's transactions, which significantly enhances data retrieval efficiency and platform scalability. We also utilize a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism, which is more energy-efficient than traditional Proof-of-Work systems. We're passionate about making blockchain accessible to everyone. That's why we've focused on end-user usability, allowing for a familiar web experience and removing the need for users to learn complex blockchain concepts. For developers, we offer robust tooling and support for familiar programming languages like Rust and AssemblyScript, making it easier to build, test, and deploy applications. Our platform also includes features like the Rainbow Bridge for seamless transfer of assets with Ethereum and Aurora, an EVM that allows Ethereum developers to leverage NEAR's capabilities. We believe in an open web where users own their data and have a say in governance, and we're committed to building the infrastructure to make that a reality.