How It Works
NEAR uses Nightshade sharding, where the blockchain is divided into shards that process transactions in parallel. Each shard produces a 'chunk' each block (1 second), and the combined chunks form the final block. Validators are dynamically assigned to shards based on stake, preventing shard takeover attacks. NEAR's account model uses human-readable account names (alice.near) rather than cryptographic hashes, and accounts can have multiple keys with different permission levels for security granularity. Chain Abstraction uses NEAR as an invisible coordination layer — users can sign transactions on any chain using a NEAR account through Multi-Party Computation (MPC) signing.
Consensus Mechanism: Proof of Stake (Nightshade)
Proof of Stake consensus selects block proposers based on the amount of cryptocurrency staked as collateral. Validators risk losing their stake (slashing) if they act dishonestly, creating economic security without energy expenditure. Stake-weighted selection means larger stakers have proportionally greater influence on block production.
Key Architecture Facts
| Category | Layer 1 |
| Consensus | Proof of Stake (Nightshade) |
| Launched | 2020 |
| Founder | Illia Polosukhin & Alex Skidanov |