NEAR Protocol is a software that aims to incentivize a network of computers to operate a platform for developers to create and launch decentralized applications.
Central to NEAR Protocol’s design is the concept of sharding, a process that aims to split the network’s infrastructure into several segments in order for computers, also known as nodes, to only have to handle a fraction of the network’s transactions.
By distributing segments of the blockchain, rather than the complete blockchain across network participants, sharding is expected to create a more efficient way to retrieve network data and scale the platform.