NEAR Protocol

NEAR Protocol is a decentralized application platform designed to make apps usable on the web. The network runs on a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) With Proof of Stake (POS), cryptocurrency miners can mine or validate block transactions based on the amount of coins a miner holds.Learn more consensus mechanism called Nightshade, which aims to offer scalability and stable fees.

NEAR is the native utility token that is used for:
Fees for processing transactions and storing data.
Running validator nodes on the network via staking NEAR tokens.
Used for governance votes to determine how network resources are allocated.

NEAR tools include:
NEAR SDKs which includes standard data structures and testing tools for Rust and AssemblyScript.
Gitpod for NEAR to create a zero time onboarding experience for developers.
NEAR Wallet that lets application developers create streamlined user experiences.
NEAR Explorer to aid with both debugging of contracts and the understanding of network performance.
NEAR Command Line Tools to allow developers to deploy applications from local environments.

NEAR Protocol launched its mainnet on April 22, 2020 with 1 billion NEAR tokens created at genesis. 5% of additional supply is issued each year to support the network as epoch rewards, of which 90% goes to validators (4.5% total) and 10% to the protocol treasury (0.5% total). 30% of transaction fees are paid out as rebates to contracts which interact with a transaction, while the remaining 70% are burned.