Layer 1 blockchain

NEAR Protocol ticker NEAR

Public-data lookups available
6 reviewed developments
31 cited sources

Summary

Proof-of-stake chain with sharded execution (Nightshade): each block references chunks produced per shard, and dynamic resharding (NEP-639, stabilized in nearcore 2.13.0) changes the shard layout. Sharding is part of the L1 protocol, not a rollup. Validators are chosen by stake each epoch; the top 100 act as block and chunk producers and further validators act as chunk validators. In nearcore's production mode a block can be produced only with approvals from at least 2/3 of stake. 4 5 6 8 9 10 27 29

Design

System: Layer 1 blockchain
Settlement family: Its own design
Scarce resource: Stake (proof of stake)
State model: Accounts
Finality: Other
Who makes blocks: Stake-selected validators: the top 100 produce blocks and chunks (one shard each); additional chunk validators validate and endorse chunks.
Fork choice: Block production follows stake-weighted approvals (Doomslug in nearcore, 2/3-of-stake threshold in production), not work-weighted longest chain. A primary-doc description of the exact finality rule was not reviewed.

Qualifications

Finality · Contested. Blocks become final through approvals from at least 2/3 of stake. NEAR's protocol specification (epoch manager page, updated March 2025) says slashing is currently disabled, while the general validators page on docs.near.org describes misbehaving validators being slashed. Following the specification, finality is classed as committee finality without enforced slashing, not as economic finality.
Sharding · Applies. Sharding is in-protocol L1 execution split across shards, not a rollup or L2; shard count and layout are live facts not frozen here.
Aurora · Partial. Aurora is an Ethereum-compatible execution environment implemented on NEAR with its own chain IDs and ETH-denominated fees; it is not recorded as a rollup settling to NEAR.
Private shard · Unknown. NEAR's homepage describes a private shard run by seven permissioned validators and linked to mainnet by a TEE-based bridge; this review did not verify it beyond that page.
Settlement family · Partial. Recorded as other: NEAR runs its own protocol and node software (nearcore), with Nightshade sharding, stake-selected validators and WebAssembly contracts.

Tradeoffs

This view follows one way of thinking about design priorities, often called the blockchain trilemma. The design-priorities lesson sets out the counter-view. Read the design-priorities lesson.

Emphasizes

Scalability Contested

Gives up

Synchronous composability: cross-contract and cross-shard work runs as asynchronous receipts that may complete in later blocks, so applications must handle partial completion. Block and chunk production is concentrated in the top 100 validators.NEAR's homepage states 1M TPS without a method or window; that headline is treated as a theoretical peak. NEAR docs present lower-requirement chunk validators as widening participation; how far that offsets producer concentration is contested.

Full node at home

Practical at home 11 12 13The published mainnet RPC node (a node type separate from validators) needs 8 cores/16 threads, 16GB RAM and a 2.5TB SATA3-class SSD with 15k IOPS as a minimum, or 32GB RAM and a 4TB NVMe SSD as recommended. That is desktop-class hardware at the upper end of home setups. Block/chunk producers need 48GB RAM with a 2TB SATA3 SSD to 3TB NVMe; chunk validators 8-16GB RAM with a 1TB SATA3 SSD to 2TB NVMe, both on at least 8 physical x86_64 cores. NEAR advises about 8GiB of extra RAM headroom or swap.

Throughput claims

Theoretical peak: 1,000,000 tx/s 14Theoretical peak; not comparable across chains or with observed load.Homepage headline with no stated method, window, shard count, transaction type or hardware; classified here as a peak claim, not observed mainnet load. Ignores propagation, state growth and cross-shard receipt latency; not comparable to another chain's figure.

Headline figures are not comparable across chains. A theoretical peak is never a like-for-like number.

Scaling layers

No scaling layer recorded in this profile.

Capabilities

Capabilities of NEAR Protocol: how each one is provided, or its research status
Capability	How it is provided	Notes and sources
Account abstraction	Structured assessment pending	Not yet assessed for any chain.
Atomic swaps	Unknown	Not yet assessed under the current definitions; NEAR Intents: the Verifier contract (intents.near), in the near GitHub organization, settles matched signed intents atomically, but only for balances users have first deposited into it, so the contract holds those funds (contract-custody risk). The cited sources name no organization that publishes it, so its layer is not established. No protocol-level multi-party atomic swap primitive was found, cross-contract calls run in separate blocks and do not roll back automatically, and cross-chain legs depend on bridges or market makers. 3 15 25 27
Authenticated data publication	Unknown	Not yet assessed under this row's current definition.
Light clients	Built into the protocolLimited scope	The protocol specification (Nomicon) defines a light client that tracks each epoch's block-producer sets and accepts headers carrying approvals from more than 2/3 of stake, which consensus produces. Scope is limited: execution-outcome proofs come from an RPC method NEAR labels experimental (EXPERIMENTAL_light_client_proof), so proof retrieval depends on an RPC provider, and adoption of production light clients was not reviewed. 26
Native staking or delegation	Structured assessment pending	Not yet assessed for any chain.
On-chain governance	Structured assessment pending	Not yet assessed for any chain.
Parallel execution	Structured assessment pending	Not yet assessed for any chain.
Payment or state channels	Unknown	No documented payment or state channel layer anchored to NEAR was reviewed.
Programmable spending	Native (protocol or core-team software) Earlier definition	WebAssembly contracts plus per-account access keys, including restricted function-call keys. 1 2 7
Protocol-verified messaging	Structured assessment pending	Not yet assessed for any chain.
Reversible transfers or recovery	Unknown	Not yet assessed under the current definitions; accounts can hold multiple access keys, but key management by the current key holders is not a recovery path under this row, and no protocol-level sender reclaim or cancellable delayed transfer, and no timed recovery-vault schedule, was verified. 2
Rollups	Unknown	No rollup settling to NEAR was verified. Sharding is not a rollup and Aurora is not recorded as one.
Shielded transfers	Structured assessment pending	Not yet assessed for any chain.
Signed partial offers	Unknown	Not yet assessed under this row's current definition.

Reading these values

How this feature is provided: Built into the protocol, core-team software or independent software says where a feature lives and who can change it. These are implementation layers, not quality: core-team software is not closer to the protocol than independent software.
Structured assessment pending: The shared review has not assessed this feature for any chain yet (Account abstraction, Native staking or delegation, On-chain governance, Parallel execution, Protocol-verified messaging and Shielded transfers). That does not mean it is absent, and a chain’s profile may already describe it.
Unknown: The review has not established this for this chain under the current definition; the note beside it says why. Unknown is not absent and not a low score. A feature reads “Not present” only when a source shows it is absent.
Earlier definition: Payment or state channels, Programmable spending and Rollups keep the earlier definition until the next fact-check. There, “Native” does not separate the protocol from core-team software, “Ecosystem software” does not say who publishes it, and “Partial” does not say which layer.
Reading across rows: The list of capabilities is incomplete. Do not read these rows as a chain leading or lagging overall.

Definitions, schema version and review history

Ecosystem & custody

Ecosystem products for NEAR Protocol
Product type	Status	Notes and sources
Automated market makers	Established in the ecosystemRHEA Finance	RHEA Finance, evolved from Ref Finance and Burrow, documents trading and liquidity on NEAR. Liquidity depth was not measured. 17 As of Sep 27, 2026.
Issuer-native stablecoins	Established in the ecosystemUSDC (Circle)	Circle lists natively issued USDC on NEAR (contract 17208628f84f5d6ad33f0da3bbbeb27ffcb398eac501a31bd6ad2011e36133a1). Native means issuer-issued on NEAR, not a protocol asset. 19 As of Sep 27, 2026.
Algorithmic stablecoins	Unknown	Algorithmic or hybrid stablecoins on NEAR were not reviewed. As of Sep 27, 2026.
Bridges	First-partyOmni Bridge, NEAR Intents (cross-chain components)	Omni Bridge lists Ethereum, Bitcoin, Zcash, Solana, Base, BNB, Arbitrum and Polygon. NEAR Intents deposits and withdrawals also use a Proof-of-Authority (POA) bridge and the HOT bridge. Circle CCTP does not list NEAR. Risk: Omni Bridge: light client plus Chain Signatures MPC for Ethereum, Bitcoin and Zcash; Wormhole plus Chain Signatures for the others, adding Wormhole's guardian assumptions. NEAR Intents routes use Omni Bridge, a POA bridge with the widest chain list (including Bitcoin, XRP, Zcash, Tron, Sui, Aptos, Cardano, Starknet and several EVM chains), or the HOT bridge, whose security model the reviewed page does not state. POA routes add operator/custodial trust; swaps filled by market makers (solvers) add counterparty and liveness risk. 15 16 20 24 25 As of Sep 27, 2026.
Block explorers	Established in the ecosystemNearBlocks	NearBlocks is an open-repository explorer covering blocks, receipts, transactions and accounts. Other explorers were not reviewed; indexing can lag canonical RPC. 18 As of Sep 27, 2026.
Hardware wallets	Established in the ecosystemLedger	See custody rows: NEAR is on by default in Ledger's own wallet app; Trezor states it does not support NEAR. One major vendor has native support. 21 22 30 31 As of Sep 27, 2026.

Hardware-wallet custody

Hardware-wallet custody for NEAR Protocol
Device maker	Status	What users can and cannot do
Ledger	Native supportSame as native: Yes	Can: Add a NEAR account and stake NEAR through Ledger Wallet, per Ledger's product page Can: Send, receive and stake NEAR in Ledger Live (now Ledger Wallet), with staking offered through the Ledger by Figment validator, per Ledger's January 2023 announcementLedger Wallet's current code registers a NEAR module with no feature switch, so NEAR is on for all users. Ledger's NEAR support articles could not be loaded for this review, so device-app details (who maintains it, which models) were not verified. 21 28 30 31 As of Sep 27, 2026.
Trezor	None foundSame as native: No	Cannot: Use a Trezor device for NEAR; Trezor states it does not currently support NEAR Protocol 22 As of Sep 27, 2026.

Public data

Your AI can request these lookups through the connection. The website itself runs no lookups. Networks: mainnet, testnet.

Public-data lookups for NEAR Protocol
Lookup	Status	What it covers and its limits
Address or account	Available	canonical finalized native account state, protocol locked amount, and storage stake estimate Does not enumerate delegated staking positions, fungible tokens, NFTs, or access keys.
Tokens and assets	Available	FastNear indexed FT balances/relationships plus bounded standard NFT token and staking-pool account probes Anonymous access is provider-dependent; NFT probes cover at most four indexed collections and index completeness is not chain-provable.
NFTs	Not available yet	Not implemented in this build
Transactions	Available	FastNear indexed transaction outcome and returned receipt execution outcomes by hash Indexed history is not independent canonical-finality confirmation and may return partial receipt coverage.

A lookup covers one address or transaction from one provider. It is never a complete wallet, and an error or private value is reported as unknown, not zero. About public data · Connect your AI

Sourced developments

Developments: Review overdue Reviewed Sep 26, 2026; next review was due Oct 6, 2026, 07:35 UTC.

Publication date · newest first

Published Sep 17, 2026Protocol

nearcore 2.14.0-rc.2 published for testing

The direct nearcore tag identifies 2.14.0-rc.2 as a prerelease with no protocol upgrade. A release candidate is testing evidence, not proof that mainnet validators adopted it.
- Implementation:Release candidate
- Release:Pre release
- Activation:Not asserted
Date basis: GitHub release published_at 2026-09-17T11:56:28Z.

Source: NEAR nearcore — nearcore 2.14.0-rc.2 (external site)
Published Sep 3, 2026Protocol

nearcore 2.13.4 security release

nearcore 2.13.4 included a critical denial-of-service fix. Its notes did not announce a protocol upgrade, so node-release and protocol-version status remain separate.
- Implementation:Released
- Release:Stable
- Activation:Not applicable to protocol version
Date basis: GitHub release published_at 2026-09-03T15:03:23Z.

Source: NEAR nearcore — nearcore 2.13.4 (external site)
Published Jul 9, 2026ProtocolVerified against sources

nearcore 2.13.0 shipped protocol-upgrade and operator-breaking changes

nearcore 2.13.0 shipped protocol changes including ML-DSA-65 transaction/access keys, Gas Keys and DelegateV2, dynamic resharding, and a direct protocol-version move from 84 to 86. It also removed centralized ExternalStorage state sync and included DB migration 48 to 49 for continuous epoch sync. Mainnet RPC later observed version 86 on 2026-09-25; that dated observation supports activation of version-gated features but is not a functional transaction, gas-key, or resharding test.
- Proposal:Mixed draft documents
- Implementation:Released
- Release:Stable
- Activation:mainnet-protocol-86-observed-2026-09-25; feature behavior not directly exercised
Date basis: GitHub release published_at 2026-07-09T13:07:41Z; the release scheduled protocol-86 voting for 2026-07-20 00:00 UTC, conditional on validator voting.

Sources: NEAR nearcore — nearcore 2.13.0 (external site) · NEAR NEPs — NEP-639: Dynamic Resharding (external site) · NEAR NEPs — NEP-645: Post-Quantum Transactions (external site)
Published Jul 1, 2026Research

Near One described work toward a Wasmtime contract runtime

Near One published work on replacing NEAR's contract VM with Wasmtime. The article is relevant research but alone does not establish protocol activation or mainnet availability.
- Implementation:Research and development
- Release:Not established
- Activation:Not established
Date basis: Date in the publisher's article URL and page.

Source: Near One — Replacing NEAR's Contract VM with Wasmtime (external site)
Published Jun 29, 2026Protocol

NEP-645 proposed post-quantum transaction access keys

NEP-645 documents ML-DSA transaction authorization, says Draft, and states stabilization at protocol version 85 in neard 2.13. Its scope excludes validator/block signing and implicit-account derivation. Mainnet protocol 86 was observed later, but no ML-DSA transaction was exercised by this review.
- Proposal:Draft at review
- Implementation:stated-stable-at-protocol-85-and-shipped-in-neard-2.13
- Release:Released code
- Activation:inferred-available-from-mainnet-protocol-86-observation; not transaction-tested
Date basis: Proposal metadata Created date; publishedAt remains unknown because the file first appeared in the repository on 2026-07-21.

Sources: NEAR NEPs — NEP-645: Post-Quantum Transactions (external site) · NEAR nearcore — nearcore 2.13.0 (external site)
Published Apr 9, 2026Protocol

NEP-639 documented dynamic resharding

NEP-639 described dynamic resharding. The individual proposal said Draft while the repository index showed Final; this record preserves the conflict and uses the proposal's narrower status. nearcore 2.13.0 states the feature was stabilized and mainnet protocol 86 was later observed, but this review did not independently observe a resharding event.
- Proposal:Draft at review with index conflict
- Implementation:stated-stabilized-in-nearcore-2.13.0
- Release:Released code
- Activation:protocol-86-observed-mainnet-2026-09-25; resharding event not independently observed
Date basis: Proposal metadata Created date; first repository commit observed through the GitHub API was 2026-05-30.

Sources: NEAR NEPs — NEP-639: Dynamic Resharding (external site) · NEAR — NEAR Enhancement Proposals (external site) · NEAR nearcore — nearcore 2.13.0 (external site)

Topics your AI can explain

Your AI can explain these topics for NEAR Protocol through the connection, with sources.

NEAR accounts, names, contracts, and keys
Transactions, receipts, execution outcomes, and finality
NEAR, yoctoNEAR, gas, and transaction cost
Storage staking and interpreting an account response
Nightshade, shards, epochs, validators, and resharding
NEPs, nearcore releases, and protocol activation
Post-quantum transaction keys: scope and limits
Smart contracts and the WebAssembly runtime
Privacy boundaries for NEAR public data
NEAR's accounts, keys and receipts in comparisons
Finding authoritative NEAR information

Known gaps

What this profile's review did not establish:

Exact finality rule (Doomslug vs BFT finality) not confirmed in current primary docs. NEAR's own pages disagree on slashing: the protocol specification says it is currently disabled, while docs.near.org's validators page describes slashing. Finality is classed as committee finality without slashing on the specification's word; if slashing is shown to be enforced on mainnet, reclassify it as economic finality.
The 1M TPS homepage figure has no published method or window in the reviewed page; a methodology source would allow reclassification.
Private shard (seven permissioned validators, TEE bridge) seen only on the homepage; status and security model unverified.
No rollup or channel layer anchored to NEAR was verified, so this profile lists no scaling layers.
Ledger NEAR support rests on Ledger Wallet's current code (NEAR registered with no feature switch), a product page and a 2023 Ledger blog post; Ledger's support articles were not loadable, so the device app's maintainer and supported models are unverified.
The home node rating rests on the RPC node guide, which lists no bandwidth figure; state growth under dynamic resharding was not measured.
The light-client rating rests on the protocol spec; whether maintained production light clients are in use, and whether the spec reflects the current chunk-validator design, was not verified.
The HOT bridge's operator and security model, and the POA bridge's authority set and custody arrangements, are not described on the reviewed pages.
Reversible or delayed transfers and recovery paths, algorithmic stablecoins and other explorers were not reviewed.

Sources

Oldest dated source check: Source checked Sep 27, 2026 Next check due Oct 27, 2026.

20 of 31 sources checked in the last 30 days; 11 have no recorded check date.

Account Model (external site)NEAR Documentation · retrieval date not recorded
Access Keys (external site)NEAR Documentation · retrieval date not recorded
How Transactions and Receipts Work (external site)NEAR nearcore documentation · retrieval date not recorded
Block and Chunk RPC (external site)NEAR Documentation · retrieval date not recorded
NEP-639: Dynamic Resharding (external site)NEAR NEPs · retrieval date not recorded
nearcore 2.13.0 (external site)NEAR nearcore · retrieval date not recorded
Replacing NEAR's Contract VM with Wasmtime (external site)Near One · retrieval date not recorded
Validators (external site)NEAR Documentation · retrieved Sep 27, 2026
How neard works (external site)NEAR nearcore documentation · retrieved Sep 27, 2026
nearcore doomslug.rs (external site)NEAR nearcore · retrieved Sep 27, 2026
Hardware requirements for RPC node (external site)NEAR Nodes documentation · retrieved Sep 27, 2026
Hardware requirements for validator node (external site)NEAR Nodes documentation · retrieved Sep 27, 2026
Node types (external site)NEAR Nodes documentation · retrieved Sep 27, 2026
NEAR Blockchain (external site)NEAR · retrieved Sep 27, 2026
NEAR Intents smart contracts (external site)NEAR · retrieval date not recorded
Omni Bridge overview (external site)NEAR Documentation · retrieved Sep 27, 2026
RHEA Finance Guide (external site)RHEA Finance · retrieval date not recorded
NearBlocks explorer (external site)NearBlocks · retrieval date not recorded
USDC contract addresses (external site)Circle · retrieved Sep 27, 2026
CCTP supported blockchains (external site)Circle · retrieved Sep 27, 2026
NEAR Protocol wallet (external site)Ledger · retrieved Sep 27, 2026
NEAR Protocol wallet (external site)Trezor · retrieved Sep 27, 2026
Aurora Documentation (external site)Aurora Labs · retrieval date not recorded
Token Bridges (external site)NEAR Intents Documentation · retrieved Sep 27, 2026
NEAR Intents (external site)NEAR Intents Documentation · retrieved Sep 27, 2026
Light Client (external site)NEAR Protocol Specification (Nomicon) · retrieved Sep 27, 2026
Cross-Contract Calls (external site)NEAR Documentation · retrieved Sep 27, 2026
Send, Receive & Stake NEAR Tokens Through Ledger Live (external site)Ledger · retrieved Sep 27, 2026
Epoch Manager (slashing is currently disabled) (external site)NEAR Protocol Specification (Nomicon) · retrieved Sep 27, 2026
Ledger Wallet coin-module loaders (loaders.ts, develop branch) (external site)Ledger (LedgerHQ/ledger-live on GitHub) · retrieved Sep 27, 2026
Ledger Wallet currencies gated by feature switches (useCurrenciesUnderFeatureFlag.ts, develop branch) (external site)Ledger (LedgerHQ/ledger-live on GitHub) · retrieved Sep 27, 2026

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Funding disclosure

Funding disclosures appear here when an upkeep arrangement exists, in the form “Upkeep funded by [name]; verdicts unaffected.” The funder ledger has not been published yet. Neutrality & funding