The native token of the NEAR Protocol, NEAR, is one of this week’s top performers among the top 20 cryptocurrencies. Ranked 19th, the coin rose 7% over the past seven days—outpacing every other coin in the top 20 over that period—and gained 11% just today.
If you want to learn what NEAR is, whether it’s worth investing in, and the best places to buy NEAR right now, you’ve come to the right place.
Top places to buy NEAR right now
What is NEAR?
NEAR Protocol is a Layer-1 blockchain designed to serve as a community-driven cloud-computing platform. It addresses the low throughput, limited performance, and poor interoperability that challenge many competing blockchains.
The project was founded by Erik Trautman, an entrepreneur with Wall Street experience and the founder of Viking Education.
Other founding team members include Illia Polosukhin, who has more than a decade of industry experience including three years at Google, and Alexander Skidanov, a computer scientist who previously worked at Microsoft and moved on to memSQL where he became the head of engineering.
NEAR uses a variant of the proof-of-stake consensus mechanism called Doomslug. Doomslug operates with two consensus rounds and treats a block as finalized as soon as it completes the first communication round.
This approach enables near-instant finality because validators produce blocks in a rotating schedule rather than competing directly based on stake.
Should I buy NEAR today?
NEAR’s recent performance has been strong and has exceeded many expectations. However, major analysts’ price targets have often been conservative compared with actual market moves. If you’re considering buying, it may be prudent to wait and watch how the price evolves, monitor market conditions, and consider your own risk tolerance.
NEAR — price forecast
Some forecasting services are optimistic about NEAR. At the time of writing, NEAR trades just under $18. One forecast projects a one-year price target of $45.50, which would be more than double the current level. A longer-term, five-year forecast from the same source places NEAR at $326.42. Remember that forecasts are speculative and based on assumptions that may not materialize.
NEAR on social media
https://twitter.com/dFax_official/status/1481120250976694274