Deep Dive
1. AI-Native Infrastructure
NEAR positions itself as the "blockchain for AI," enabling user-owned AI agents to execute transactions across chains. Its architecture supports decentralized machine learning (DCML) and verifiable AI workloads, aiming to become the execution layer for AI economies. Partnerships like Brave’s integration of NEAR’s AI privacy stack (Brave) and collaborations with IQ AI for agent-driven cross-chain operations highlight this focus.
2. Scalability Through Sharding
NEAR uses Nightshade sharding to split the network into parallel chains, achieving up to 1 million transactions per second (TPS) by late 2025. This dynamic scaling reduces fees and latency while maintaining decentralization. The protocol’s stateless validation allows nodes to process transactions without storing the entire blockchain state, lowering participation barriers for validators.
3. NEAR Intents & Cross-Chain Ecosystem
The NEAR Intents framework simplifies cross-chain swaps (e.g., TRON ↔ Solana) by abstracting technical complexities. It supports 120+ assets and 20+ blockchains, processing $6B+ volume as of November 2025 (NEAR Protocol). Integrations with Ledger, THORSwap, and Sweat Wallet enable seamless multichain interactions, while partnerships with Everclear and Aptos expand liquidity and settlement efficiency.
Conclusion
NEAR Protocol combines scalable infrastructure, AI-native tooling, and cross-chain interoperability to position itself as a foundational layer for decentralized AI and multichain ecosystems. With innovations like Nightshade 2.0 and NEAR Intents, it aims to make blockchain interactions invisible to end-users. Could NEAR’s focus on AI agents redefine how decentralized applications interact across chains?