NEAR Protocol is a layer-one solution designed for building decentralised apps (DApps). The NEAR Protocol boasts an efficient proof-of-stake consensus mechanism called Nightshade, which is scalable, with stable fees, and is certified carbon-neutral. Near Protocol’s native token, NEAR, is used to pay transaction fees on the network, as well as facilitate staking pools, reward proof-of-stake validators and fund developer royalties. In addition, NEAR is used as a governance token. To encourage development, NEAR Protocol has launched a developer-friendly toolkit and offers up to 30% royalties for developers who build DApps and smart contracts on the NEAR Protocol.