# L1 NEAR Near By [moonduck15](https://paragraph.com/@moonduck15) · 2022-02-04 --- A cheat sheet to illustrate details on [Investors checklist for Blockchains](https://themoonduck-15.medium.com/investors-checklist-for-blockchain-47c14569c263) . Data or stats are not authoritative and picked from scans of tweets, discord , telegram reddit etc 2021 Q4 and some references are provided. In case of any misses do let me know and I will update. _These notes are more on under-the-hood engineering look. A separate article will cover the business development viewpoint_ _I use the trading ticker rather then name and for example for Axie Infinity blockchain game $AXS implies the coin or token and AXS implies the foundation/DAO/founders as appropriate_ **Status : DRAFT** * Basics * Price Action * Stats and Links * Highlight Pro and Con * Technology * Apps Ecosystem * Funds and Promotions * Readings Basics ------ Illia Polosukhin and Alexander Skidanov started NEAR.ai in early 2017 to explore program synthesis: the field of automating programs from a human specification. Named for the science fiction novel The Singularity Is Near, the NEAR project drew from Illia’s work as a lead contributor for TensorFlow at Google and Alexander’s as the lead engineer at MemSQL. [NEAR ( $NEAR)](https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/near) is a decentralized development platform that uses a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism and will eventually feature a sharded architecture to scale transaction throughput. Its block generation scheme is called Doomslug and its proposed sharding design is dubbed Nightshade. NEAR combines a horizontal scaling approach with a new consensus mechanism that splits the network into parallel shards (partitoned data layer )  and dynamically distributes the computation to increase the network's processing capacity. The network launched in April 2020, became community-operated in September 2020 ( [Near Foundation](https://near.org/blog/introducing-the-near-foundation/) in Switzerland) and passed a vote to enable token transfers in October 2020. 3k TPS with 4 shards. TTF in seconds. 3 Mill active accounts, > 1 Mill Txn/Day ### Price Action 1,217% Return from 2021 low to high. 1.4173USD (Jan 1) -14.7846USD (Dec31) 943.10% returns for 2021 ![Spotlight 19 Jan 2022 ](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/a0546f9fc099c337cf2bccc03fb9cfadb687fa61b24db061e74344fe7dbdad7d.png) Spotlight 19 Jan 2022 ### Stats and Links **Community Stats**: 6K+ Reddit  290K+ Twitter 50K+ Telegram **Links** [Website](https://near.org/) [Whitepaper](https://near.org/papers/the-official-near-white-paper/) [Telegram](https://t.me/cryptonear) [Medium](https://medium.com/nearprotocol) [Chat](http://near.chat/) [Twitter](https://twitter.com/nearprotocol) [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/near_protocol/) [Github](https://github.com/near) [Explorer](https://explorer.near.org/) ### Highlight Pro and Con * Modular chain with heavy sharding * Well researched on choices by other Alt L1 * EVM compatibility * Gasless Layer-2 Aurora * relatively small developers team for roadmap * New bridges and cross chain apps * Low TVL in apps Technology ---------- NEAR supports   Rust and AssemblyScript (JavaScript with types) languages to write smart contracts. * Sharding: The system is designed to scale horizontally and near-infinitely by distributing computation across multiple parallelized shards. particular shards could potentially be configured to use a special predetermined validator set, thus making them “private”. **Consensus** * Consensus is achieved across all of the nodes which make up the network operators across all of the shards using the new [Nightshade algorithm](https://near.org/papers/the-official-near-white-paper/#technology). * Staking Selection and Game Theory: To participate in the validation process, stakers are selected using a secure randomized process which optimally distributes seats across parties and provides incentives for them to operate with good behavior. * Randomness: NEAR’s randomness approach can tolerate up to 1/3 of malicious actors before liveness is affected and 2/3 of malicious actors before any one can actually influence its output. Nightshade models the system as a single blockchain. The list of all the transactions in each block is split into physical chunks, one chunk per shard. All chunks accumulate to one block. Note that chunks can only be validated by nodes that maintain the state of that shard. _Theoretically, each logical block contains all the transactions for all the shards._ However, since transmitting a logical block across the network would be prohibitively expensive, it is never initiated. Instead, each network participant maintains the state that corresponds to the shards that they validate transactions for **and any additional shard that they want to track.** The consensus is based on the heaviest chain consensus. Meaning, once a block producer publishes a block, they collect the signatures of validator nodes. The weight of a block is then the cumulative stake of all the signers whose signatures are included in the block. The weight of a chain is the sum of the block weights. Additionally, the consensus utilises a finality gadget that introduces additional slashing conditions for higher chain security. ![ each block finalized via BFT consensus](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/72272456c4897219c05f9ba9731dc6e925562facd75582c645753e9a2a91b7b9.png)  each block finalized via BFT consensus There is a single validator assigned to produce each block.  This validator must assemble the chunks which are provided to it during that block’s time period into the period’s block.  The assignment of this validator will rotate through the existing validator set (eg 100 validators). This leader does not accept transactions, only chunks. For each individual shard and period, a single validator is assigned to produce its chunk. Each shard has its own smaller pool of validators which is pulled from the main pool.  The shard leader position rotates among this smaller pool (eg 4 validators) in the same way that the overall block leader is selected. ![Concealing the validators in Nightshade](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/98ce2a88d9b2c6c648db7299487f7e7269d9ed9ae8f2e743d2f3db10045bfc68.png) Concealing the validators in Nightshade Using Verifiable Random Function (VRF) NEAR assigns 'hidden' validators to each shard.  any single hidden validator can present a proof that the chunk is invalid, a so-called “fraud proof”. Any other node operator can participate permissionlessly as a so-called “fisherman.”  This third-party node can provide the same fraud proof as a hidden validator and thus they too can kick off the process of slashing and rollback. Everything on the chain gets assigned to an account. Accounts can represent a person, company, app or even a thing (eg a refrigerator).  _Accounts are each first-class citizens regardless._ ![Explorer](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/7705cc06713b9f714eeb90b3720e55896bf285f1fec8499dcb21422adc06b431.png) Explorer NEAR team has a landmark series of Video 1 to 1 technical discussion with most founders of L1 chains running from 2018. This informs their design choices and in the discussions of the architecture Nightshade (NEAR) favors asynchronicity and ‘lighter’ nodes, whilst Casper FFG (ETH) targets synchronicity and heavy consensus. NEAR requires cheap consensus once per day, whilst Ethereum validators need to be constantly online participating in heavy computations. [https://near.org/blog/why-doesnt-near-just-replicate-ethereum-serenity-design/](https://near.org/blog/why-doesnt-near-just-replicate-ethereum-serenity-design/) \- Native human-readable account ID ".near", no need to pay $50 for an ENS ![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/57d5e6866dd06974c845e5ddbc0f6fc4c663a706b91707a58f13926d452954c5.png) [Aurora is a Layer 2 EVM](https://soliditydeveloper.com/aurora-near-protocol) compatible sub chain ### App Ecosystem [195 projects](https://twitter.com/analyticalali/status/1475347000858054660?s=20): NFTS: 37,GUILD: 67,DEFI: 38,DAO: 12 Rainbow Bridge brings EVM Compatibility and Interoperability to NEAR. Rainbow Bridge connects EVM Aurora/NEAR with Ethereum.  [Paras](https://coin98insights.com/what-is-paras) is an NFT marketplace. Shroom Kingdom - the first play-to-earn . [Flux](https://coin98insights.com/what-is-flux-protocol-flx), [ChainLink](https://coin98insights.com/what-is-chainlink-link), and [Band Protocol](https://coin98insights.com/what-is-band-protocol) are oracles ![@coin98Analytics](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/627b93f6dfea545a9b51ccf573ef229cf79e6ff38184e02d31454ebe86951176.jpg) @coin98Analytics Octopus Network used NEAR as a mother chain and provides ability to create Appchains. Appchains are built w/ IBC-compatible Substrate, allowing it to interoperate with other Octo appchains and @cosmos chains like @terra\_money. ![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/286b2b169dc07cea6a4383f438cdae83884c2d73a1ee7702c876edff5cc4c9b1.jpg) ### Sentiments Tokens 37.7% to backers/team, rest to community. 30% of network fee from usage of a smart contract is automatically allocated to the contract’s developers. ### Funding Lots of [backer](https://near.org/backers/) Coinbase , a16z, Multicoin Capital, Pantera $ 150 million [funding round Jan 2022](https://news.coincu.com/55854-near-foundation-raises-150-million-from-major-cryptocurrency-investment-firms/) lead by  Three Arrows Capital  and Mechanism Capital, Dragonfly Capital, Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Jump, Alameda, Zee Prime and Amber Group **Promotions** [Skyward Finance](https://skyward.finance/) is the first IDO platform .[NearPad](https://www.nearpad.io/) is A launchpad, DEX Aggregator, and Yield Aggregator of the Near Ecosystem. Community DAO, Yields and other from [Near Foundation](https://near.org/blog/introducing-the-near-foundation/) NEAR Grants Program (NGP), directed by the NEAR Foundation. Near Protocol Offers $800M in [Grants in Bid for DeFi Mindshare](https://www.coindesk.com/tech/2021/10/25/near-protocol-offers-800m-in-grants-in-bid-for-defi-mindshare/) **Challenges** 1 Developers for roadmap 2 New bridges and cross chain apps 3 TVL in apps ### Readings [The Whiteboard Series with NEAR](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9tzQn_TEuFWweVbfTbaedFdwVrvaYPq4) is a set of video interviews with Founders who are building scalable solutions  for Blockchain. With deep dive into their story, what they're developing and how it is helping the ecosystem. [Pagoda, the World’s First Web3 Startup Platform](https://medium.com/nearprotocol/announcing-the-launch-of-pagoda-the-worlds-first-web3-startup-platform-f8e14903ee99) `Pagoda’s objective is to offer Web3 native, fully decentralized versions of these tools at every layer of the stack, from the base blockchain protocol all the way up to the application and marketing/distribution layers.` [Why NEAR Protocol?](https://alphapls.substack.com/p/why-near-protocol) A high performing L1 blockchain with an emerging, vibrant ecosystem and a war chest to attract developers and founders. [How NEAR’s Simple Nightshade Works](https://medium.com/nearprotocol/how-nears-simple-nightshade-works-90f1c8e6e8af) NEAR’s Simple Nightshade system is modeled as a single blockchain, with each block containing all transactions from all shards. As a consequence, each block changes the entire state of all shards. Once it launches, a new subset of validators called **“chunk-only producers”** will go live with it. These individuals won’t need to have any specialized hardware and will be able to earn NEAR for validating the blocks of a specific shard, paving the way for anyone, anywhere to help secure the network. We expect this phase to occur in January 2022 [NEAR Foundation Partners With Elliptic To Enhance On-Chain Security](https://medium.com/nearprotocol/near-foundation-partners-with-elliptic-to-enhance-on-chain-security-ad254e2c55c5) `This will initially include screening of crypto wallets and transactions on the NEAR blockchain through Elliptic’s Lens and Navigator products, with plans to incorporate Virtual Asset Providers (VASPs verification) and crime investigation capabilities through Elliptics Discovery and Forensics.` --- *Originally published on [moonduck15](https://paragraph.com/@moonduck15/l1-near-near)*