The NEAR protocol is a highly scalable first-layer blockchain powered by Nightshade 2.0 sharding technology, allowing for 8 active shards and a block time of 600 milliseconds.

Chain abstraction allows users, developers, and AI agents to transfer assets and interact across multiple blockchain networks using a single NEAR account.

NEAR Intents simplify complex on-chain actions by allowing users and agents to express what they want to do, while analysts handle how to execute it.

The NEAR protocol is building an open internet based on AI agents, providing them with real wallets, verifiable actions, private data processing, and access to multiple chains.

NEAR tokens (NEAR) are used for transaction fees, storage, storage rewards, and governance of the ecosystem.

Introduction

The NEAR protocol is an artificial intelligence blockchain designed to support applications, agents, and users on a global scale. Sharding gives the NEAR protocol speed and the ability to handle massive demands. Chain abstraction makes it easy for users and AI agents to interact across multiple blockchains using a single account. Privacy and verifiability are core elements of the protocol, enabling agents to own assets, make decisions, and act independently.

Every aspect of NEAR's design—scalability, access to multiple chains, and private AI—works together to power an open internet owned by users where AI is not just an add-on but a first-class participant.

Whether you're designing consumer applications, financial platforms, or independent agents, NEAR provides the infrastructure to run them quickly, safely, and across multiple chains.

Sharding

NEAR uses a sharding technology called Nightshade 2.0 to scale its infrastructure, allowing the NEAR protocol to split the network into several parallel shards—each processing transactions independently, meaning that network capacity grows with demand.

By 2025, NEAR manages eight active shards, and thanks to recent upgrades, it achieves transaction finality in about 600 milliseconds—one of the highest speeds in the web 3 world.

NEAR also introduced verification without state, allowing validators to process transactions without needing to store the full state of shards, which reduces hardware requirements and improves decentralization.

Sharding is what enables the NEAR protocol to support high-throughput applications like AI agents, multi-chain protocols, and consumer applications—at internet scale. It also supports cross-chain infrastructure like OmniBridge, which relies on NEAR's speed and scalability to securely transfer assets between main networks.

Chain Abstraction and NEAR Intents

NEAR is built to eliminate the complexities of using blockchains; two of its core innovations—chain abstraction and NEAR Intents—make web 3 almost invisible to users while unleashing tremendous functional potential for developers and AI agents.

Chain Abstraction

Chain abstraction allows users and developers to interact with multiple blockchains—Ethereum, Bitcoin, Solana, Zcash, and others—using a single NEAR account. There's no need to switch wallets, manage transaction fee tokens across chains, or even know which network you are on. This creates a seamless experience for both web 2 and web 3 applications.

Internally, chain abstraction relies on chain signatures, a multi-chain cryptographic system that enables NEAR accounts to sign and send transactions to any supported blockchain.

NEAR Intents

NEAR Intents give users and agents the ability to express what they want to do—like swapping tokens or purchasing an item—without needing to manually execute how to achieve that. Analysts then compete off-chain to fulfill these goals in the most efficient ways, reducing the complexity of decentralized finance and cross-chain operations.

This system enables a new class of applications where AI agents, users, and services can coordinate transactions and actions across chains without needing deep knowledge of blockchain technology.

Together, chain abstraction and NEAR Intents create a world where using digital currencies feels as simple as using the internet.

Artificial Intelligence on NEAR

NEAR's role is not just to scale transactions—it is building the infrastructure for an internet reliant on AI agents, where AI agents can own assets, make decisions, and operate independently across blockchains.

On NEAR, AI agents are not just tools for responding to requests—they can own wallets, sign transactions, pay for services, and act as real users. This has been made possible because NEAR's architecture is designed to be private, verifiable AI owned by users.

Key technologies powering artificial intelligence on NEAR include:

Chain signatures: Allow AI agents to interact with any blockchain from their NEAR accounts.

Verification without state and fast transaction finality.

Privacy Technology: Protecting user data while allowing agents to perform actions on behalf of users.

The open market for agents: A futuristic ecosystem where developers can build and deploy AI agents on-chain and profit from it.

By granting AI agents true independence while integrating security and privacy, NEAR lays the groundwork for the next generation of smart decentralized applications.

Closing Thoughts

The future of the internet depends on agents, applications, and users working across many blockchains, without being tied to a single ecosystem. Building this future requires foundations based on scalability, privacy, and user ownership.

The NEAR protocol provides these three foundations through sharding that aids scalability, chain abstraction that unifies blockchains, and the verifiable infrastructure for AI agents. With the widespread adoption of decentralized applications and AI agents, NEAR offers developers and users the necessary tools to build, deploy, and thrive in the next generation of the internet.