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NEAR Protocol is a high-performance blockchain designed specifically for AI applications. It aims to support decentralized applications and intelligent agents by providing the necessary infrastructure for AI to operate and interact across both Web2 and Web3. The platform integrates three key components: User-Owned AI, which prioritizes user interests; Intents and Chain Abstraction, which simplifies cross-chain transactions; and a sharded architecture that ensures scalability, speed, and low costs. This combination makes NEAR suitable for building secure, user-centric, AI-native applications at scale.

NEAR Protocol was founded in 2018 by Illia Polosukhin and Alexander Skidanov. Both had previously worked on NEAR AI, a startup focused on teaching machines to code. Polosukhin, a former machine learning researcher at Google, co-authored the influential paper "Attention Is All You Need," which introduced the transformer architecture used in modern language models. Skidanov was an early engineer and director of engineering at Microsoft's SingleStore and also contributed to OpenAI. Their combined expertise in distributed systems and AI led them to create a scalable and user-friendly blockchain.

NEAR Protocol stands out because it was built for AI from the start, not as an afterthought. Its architecture, including Nightshade sharding, allows it to process billions of transactions without congestion or high fees. Developers can use familiar languages like JavaScript and Rust, and users can interact without needing a wallet. Cross-chain interactions are simplified through Chain Signatures and NEAR Intents. The protocol also features a progressive security model, predictable low fees, and native support for AI agents, making it a practical choice for building autonomous applications.

The total supply of NEAR is capped at 1 billion tokens, distributed as follows: 17.2% for community grants, 11.4% for operation grants, 10% for foundation endowment, 11.7% for early ecosystem, 14% for core contributors, 17.6% for backers, 6.1% for small backers, and 12% for community sale. The mainnet launched on April 22, 2020, with 1 billion tokens at genesis. Each year, an additional 5% of supply is issued as epoch rewards, with 90% going to validators and 10% to the protocol treasury. Transaction fees are split, with 30% rebated to contracts and 70% burned. NEAR tokens are used for transaction fees, staking to run validator nodes, and governance voting.

NEAR tokens can be purchased on several major cryptocurrency exchanges, including Binance, Coinbase, OKX, Gate.io, Huobi, Kucoin, Kraken, Crypto.com, and Revolut. These platforms offer NEAR trading pairs with various fiat currencies and cryptocurrencies, allowing users to buy and sell the token easily.