NEAR Protocol

Core client nearcore ships regular upgrades. Release 2.13.0 moved the network to protocol version 86 in July 2026, adding post-quantum signatures and gas keys, and a 2.14.0 release candidate was on testnet in September 2026. Protocol changes go through House of Stake governance proposals. The NEAR Foundation funds much of the work. In January 2024 it cut about 40% of staff and reported a treasury of $285 million in cash, 305 million NEAR and $70 million in investments and loans. No newer treasury breakdown was found, so current funding depth is less clear.

• near/nearcore release 2.13.0
• near/nearcore release 2.14.0-rc.1
• Near Foundation to cut staff by 40%, says treasury 'remains strong' (The Block)

The Bitwise NEAR ETF filed its final prospectus on 24 September 2026 after its registration became effective, and began trading on NYSE Arca on 29 September 2026. It holds NEAR with Coinbase Custody and plans to stake all of it. Bitwise also runs one of the largest validators. NEAR is on the National Bank of Kazakhstan's April 2026 list of authorised digital assets. It is not among the assets the SEC named as digital commodities in March 2026. Genesis tokens went to backers (17.6%), core contributors (14.0%), the foundation and others, and all of that vesting has ended.

• Bitwise NEAR ETF: Prospectus (Form 424B3)
• List of authorized unsecured digital assets (National Bank of Kazakhstan)
• "No Longer the Securities and Everything Commission": SEC and CFTC Issue Landmark Interpretation on Crypto Assets (Chapman and Cutler LLP)
• NEAR mainnet RPC: validators

NEAR started with 1 billion tokens in 2020 and had about 1.307 billion on 27 September 2026. There is no cap. New NEAR is minted each epoch at up to 2.5% a year, after an upgrade that went live on 30 October 2025 halved it from 5%; an earlier community vote on the cut had technically failed. Of new issuance, 90% goes to validators and 10% to the protocol treasury run by the NEAR Foundation. All genesis vesting has ended, so new supply now comes only from inflation. Seventy percent of each transaction fee is burned, but fees are far too small to offset issuance.

• NEAR Protocol specification (Nomicon): Economics
• near/nearcore release 2.9.0
• NEAR Protocol Cuts Inflation in Half Despite Failed Community Vote (Brave New Coin)
• NEAR Protocol (NEAR): Tokenomics & Vesting Schedule (Tokenomist)
• Bitwise NEAR ETF: Prospectus (Form 424B3)

On 27 September 2026 NEAR had 417 validators staking about 541.5 million NEAR, about 41% of supply; the 9 largest held more than a third of stake. NEAR claims 100% mainnet uptime for over five years. Use is uneven. DefiLlama recorded only about $86,200 of chain fees over 30 days, and about $243 million of DeFi value locked. NEAR says its cross-chain Intents product has handled $19 billion of volume across 35+ chains. NEAR AI offers private inference, and Brave and Venice AI are named as users.

• NEAR mainnet RPC: validators
• DefiLlama API: Near chain fees
• DefiLlama API: chains TVL
• NEAR Protocol