The Future of Smart Contract Platforms: Why NEAR is the One to Watch
Introduction
NEAR is a blockchain platform designed to make decentralized applications (dApps) user-friendly and accessible to a wider audience.
It offers low transaction fees, fast processing times, and strong security measures, making it an attractive option for developers and users alike.
Overview
Fundamentals
- Team - Over 50
- Technology - Proof of Stake (PoS) and Tower Byzantine Fault Tolerance (BFT)
- Competitors - Chainlink, Band Protocol, and Uniswap, etc.
Technical
Resources
Tokenomics
- Token distributions - https://tinyurl.com/5n7cyyb3
- Annual burn (expected) - 1%
- Annual insurance (expected) - 3%
Near Explained in 3 ways
To a 12 years old
NEAR is a special computer program that helps people make really cool apps that anyone can use. These apps are different because they don’t belong to just one person or company, but to everyone who uses them. NEAR makes these apps fast, cheap, and safe to use so that lots of people can enjoy them!
To an investor
NEAR is a blockchain platform that offers a unique combination of performance, usability, and security, making it an attractive investment opportunity in the growing decentralized applications (dApps) market.
With a strong focus on user-friendliness, NEAR has the potential to become a popular choice for developers looking to build user-friendly dApps, and for end-users who demand fast and affordable transactions. Additionally, NEAR has a strong team and an active developer community, which are important factors for the long-term success of any blockchain project.
To a developer
NEAR is a blockchain platform that offers a highly flexible and scalable architecture, allowing developers to build complex decentralized applications (dApps) with ease.
NEAR’s sharding technique, called “Nightshade,” breaks up the network into smaller subnetworks or “shards,” which allows for parallel processing of transactions and smart contracts. This improves the platform’s scalability and throughput, allowing it to handle more transactions than traditional blockchain platforms.
NEAR’s smart contract language, Rust, is a high-performance programming language that prioritizes safety and security, making it an ideal choice for building complex smart contracts. Rust is also known for its low-level control over hardware, which is important for optimizing performance.
NEAR’s virtual machine, called “NEARVM,” is based on WebAssembly, a low-level virtual machine that is designed to run code safely and efficiently on a variety of platforms. This allows developers to write smart contracts in multiple languages, including Rust, C++, and AssemblyScript, and deploy them on the NEAR platform.
NEAR’s modular SDK, called “NEAR Core,” offers a variety of tools and resources for developers, including a flexible architecture that allows developers to customize their own modules, APIs for interacting with the blockchain, and an easy-to-use command-line interface for deployment and management of dApps.
NEAR’s focus on usability and user experience is evident in its development of a user-friendly wallet, which allows users to easily manage their assets and interact with dApps on the platform. This emphasis on accessibility and ease of use is important for attracting a wider audience to decentralized applications and blockchain technology as a whole.
What Makes Near Unique?
Scalability: NEAR uses a sharding technique called Nightshade to improve scalability and increase the platform’s capacity for handling more transactions and smart contracts. This is a unique approach that sets NEAR apart from other blockchain platforms.
Usability: NEAR places a strong emphasis on usability and user experience, with a focus on making decentralized applications (dApps) accessible to a wider audience. The platform offers a user-friendly wallet, easy-to-use development tools, and low transaction fees, which makes it easier for developers and end-users alike to interact with the platform.
Security: NEAR’s smart contract language, Rust, is known for its safety and security features, which helps prevent vulnerabilities and attacks. The platform also uses a unique consensus mechanism called “Doomslug,” which enhances security by preventing the possibility of 51% attacks.
Developer-friendly: NEAR offers a comprehensive set of developer tools, including an easy-to-use SDK, APIs, and a modular architecture that allows developers to customize their own modules. This makes it easier for developers to build and deploy dApps on the platform.
Near Team
NEAR’s founding team consists of experienced entrepreneurs and technologists who have worked on various successful projects in the blockchain and technology space. The core team includes:
Alexander Skidanov: Co-founder and CEO. Skidanov has a background in computer science and has worked on several blockchain projects, including ETHParis and Parity Technologies.
Illia Polosukhin: Co-founder and CTO. Polosukhin is a former Google engineer who has contributed to several open-source projects, including TensorFlow and the Google Cloud Platform.
Erik Trautman: Co-founder and COO. Trautman is a serial entrepreneur who has founded and led several successful startups, including Viking Code School and The Odin Project.
The NEAR team also includes a group of advisors and investors who bring a wealth of experience and expertise to the project. Advisors include industry leaders such as Balaji Srinivasan, founder of Earn.com, and Naval Ravikant, founder of AngelList. Investors include top-tier firms such as Andreessen Horowitz, Pantera Capital, and Electric Capital.
Near in Practice
There are several projects and companies that are using NEAR to build decentralized applications and blockchain-based solutions.
Mintbase
Mintbase is a platform for creating and selling NFTs on NEAR. NFTs are unique digital assets that can represent anything from artwork and music to virtual real estate and gaming items. Mintbase enables creators to easily mint and sell their own NFTs on NEAR, while also providing tools for discovering and purchasing NFTs created by other artists and creators.
Flux Protocol
Flux Protocol is a decentralized platform for creating and trading synthetic assets on NEAR. Synthetic assets are financial instruments that mimic the price movements of real-world assets, such as stocks, commodities, and currencies. Flux Protocol enables users to create and trade synthetic assets on NEAR, providing a decentralized and transparent alternative to traditional financial markets.
Ref Finance
Ref Finance is a DeFi platform for liquidity provision and trading on NEAR. The platform allows users to provide liquidity to various NEAR-based assets, earning fees in return. Users can also trade these assets in a decentralized and transparent manner, with no intermediaries or centralized exchanges.
Gnosis
Gnosis is a decentralized prediction market platform that is building on NEAR to enhance its scalability and interoperability. Prediction markets are markets where participants can bet on the outcome of future events, such as elections, sporting events, and financial markets. Gnosis enables users to create and participate in prediction markets on NEAR, providing a decentralized and transparent way to make predictions and share information.
FAQs - Frequently Asked Questions
NEAR is a blockchain platform that aims to make it easier for developers to build and deploy decentralized applications (dApps) with better usability, scalability, and security.
NEAR uses a unique sharding technique called Nightshade to increase the platform’s scalability and throughput without compromising on security. NEAR also places a strong emphasis on user experience and accessibility, making it easier for developers and end-users to interact with the platform.
NEAR’s smart contract language is Rust, a high-performance programming language that prioritizes safety and security.
NEAR can be used to build a wide range of decentralized applications, including gaming, social media, finance, and more.
The NEAR token is used for a variety of functions on the NEAR platform, including staking, transaction fees, and governance.
NEAR uses a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism called “Doomslug” to secure the network and validate transactions.
NEAR has a decentralized governance model where stakeholders can vote on proposals to determine the direction of the platform. NEAR also has a governance token, called the NEAR Protocol token (NEAR), which is used to vote on proposals.
NEAR is designed to be compatible with other blockchain platforms through the use of “bridges” that allow for the exchange of assets and data between different chains. NEAR also supports cross-chain atomic swaps, which allow users to trade assets across different chains without the need for an intermediary.
NEAR uses a dynamic fee market that adjusts transaction fees based on network demand. This helps ensure that users can get their transactions processed quickly, while also providing incentives for validators to process transactions in a timely manner.
Evaluation
Strengths
- High performance and scalability
- Developer-friendly tools and ecosystem
- Strong community support and partnerships
- Focus on cross-chain interoperability
- Robust security and governance mechanisms
Weaknesses
- High tokens supply
- Early stage
- Strong competitions
Team
Technology
Community
Road map
Tokenomics
Average rating
Why You Should Invest in Near?
Strong team and partnerships: NEAR has a talented team of developers, advisors, and partners who are working to build a scalable and developer-friendly blockchain platform. Some of the team members have experience working at top tech companies like Google and MemSQL, and NEAR has partnerships with companies like Gnosis and Flux Protocol.
Growing ecosystem: NEAR has a growing ecosystem of developers, projects, and applications being built on its platform. As more projects are built and more users adopt NEAR-based applications, there could be increased demand for NEAR tokens.
Low transaction fees: NEAR has very low transaction fees, making it an attractive option for developers and users who want to build and use decentralized applications without high fees eating into their profits or transactions.
Focus on user experience: NEAR places a strong emphasis on user experience, with the goal of making it easy for developers to build and users to use decentralized applications. This focus on usability could attract more users to NEAR-based applications over time.
Growing adoption: NEAR is seeing increasing adoption as a platform for building decentralized applications and blockchain-based solutions. This growing adoption could help drive demand for the NEAR token, as more users and developers look to utilize the platform.
Why You Shouldn't Invest in Near?
Volatility: Cryptocurrencies like NEAR are known for their extreme price volatility, which can make them a high-risk investment. In just the first few months of 2021, the price of NEAR has fluctuated by more than 200%. While this volatility can present opportunities for traders looking to profit from short-term price movements, it can also lead to significant losses for long-term investors.
Regulatory uncertainty: As with many other cryptocurrencies, NEAR is subject to regulatory uncertainty, as governments around the world struggle to determine how to regulate this new asset class. While some countries have embraced cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology, others have taken a more cautious approach. In some cases, regulatory changes could have a significant impact on the value of NEAR.
Competition: NEAR is just one of many blockchain platforms and cryptocurrencies that are vying for market share and adoption. While NEAR has some unique features and advantages, it faces stiff competition from other platforms like Ethereum, Polkadot, and Binance Smart Chain. If another platform were to gain wider adoption or demonstrate superior technology, it could impact the value of NEAR.
Technology risks: While NEAR has a strong team of developers and advisors, there is always a risk of technical challenges or issues arising. If there were to be a serious technical issue with NEAR’s platform, it could impact the value of the NEAR token and the platform’s overall adoption and success. Additionally, as with all emerging technologies, there is a risk that NEAR’s platform could be supplanted by a newer, more advanced blockchain platform in the future.
