The Near Protocol addresses a central question on the World Wide Web: How do I collect and store data? Similar to Amazon Web Services, Near offers the ability to store and access data – just decentrally.
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How does Near Protocol work?
Anyone familiar with the crypto space will have guessed it: Instead of a central entity or a cloud on which data is collected, NEAR is operated by a network of computers distributed across the globe.
When programmers and developers use Near, they can write code without having to set up their own infrastructure. You simply use the protocol and only take up as much space as you need. In the official white paper it says:
It’s a complex technology with a simple goal: to enable developers and entrepreneurs to easily and sustainably build applications that protect assets like money and identity, while being powerful and easy-to-use for consumers to access .
Near Protocol White Paper
The role of NEAR cryptocurrency
The self-imposed task of offering some kind of decentralized cloud solution poses a number of challenges for the platform. On the one hand, the platform must ensure a high level of security, but still be open to everyone (participation). In addition, it must be possible to ensure that all participants can be paid for their work (compensation). Ultimately, as the NEAR team explains in the official white paper, a certain game theory design must ensure that benevolent participants are willing to stay in the game while less benevolent participants are prevented from harming the entire system.
This is where the cryptocurrency NEAR comes into play. This allows users to compensate other network participants for their participation in the system. NEAR is also used in the network’s own “Thresholded Proof of Stake” mechanism. This special modification of the proof-of-stake mechanism is intended to ensure that power in the network is not distributed among individual players, but can be distributed fairly.
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In all of this, the protocol and especially the community rely on a high level of user-friendliness. This is how NEAR CEO Marieke Flament explains to BTC-ECHO in an interview:
[NEAR ist] quick and easy to use. Even my mother can open a wallet. The community is inclusive: people come from all over the world. You can ask them any question and they will explain it to you in simple terms.
Marieke Flament, CEO of NEAR
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