The cryptocurrency is called NEAR and its symbol is NEAR, its market cap is around $2.75 billion (as of April 6, 2025) and it is ranked #33 on CoinMarketCap.
Technology and infrastructure. NEAR is a Layer 1 blockchain (a full, standalone network). It is a native token (used to pay fees and secure the network) which uses Proof of Stake (people “stake” or lock up tokens to help run the network and earn rewards).
Use case and functionality. NEAR is used for smart contracts (programs that run automatically on the blockchain), DeFi (decentralized finance – financial apps without banks), NFTs (digital collectibles or assets), and other dApps (apps that run on blockchain). Its main competitors are Ethereum, Solana, Polkadot, and Avalanche.
Strengths and weaknesses. Strengths: Very fast (up to 100,000 transactions per second), cheap fees (under $0.01), and easy to use.
Weaknesses: Still growing, fewer apps than Ethereum, and some say it’s a bit centralized (not fully spread out).
NEAR uses sharding (splits the network into smaller parts) to solve the blockchain trilemma (balancing speed, security, and decentralization).
Adoption and ecosystem. Used by developers, startups, and some retail users (regular people). Big partners include Google Cloud, Sweatcoin, and Aurora. Has an active developer community, supported by training and funding.
Tokenomics and Supply. NEAR has no fixed maximum supply. Tokens were given to the team, early investors, community, and for staking. It has a burning system (70% of fees are destroyed, which helps control supply).
Risks and future outlook. Risks: Government rules (regulation), hacker attacks (security), and strong rivals (competition).
Coming Soon: Better tools for developers, more support for Ethereum users, and upgrades to sharding.