---
title: "What is NEAR Protocol?"
description: "Let's run the basic of the protocol"
url: https://help.mynearwallet.com/en/articles/47-what-is-near-protocol
collection: "Getting Started with NEAR"
updated: 2025-12-10
language: en
---

# What is NEAR Protocol?

Let's run the basic of the protocol

NEAR is a decentralized application platform that aims to change the way systems and applications are designed and built.

It is built to offer users secure access to high-value assets such as money and identity while ensuring ease of use and scalability for developers. 

NEAR combines community consensus, database sharding, and usability to create a strong, decentralized data layer for the web.

It provides a cloud infrastructure for deploying and running decentralized applications, which are called "smart contracts." NEAR is community-run, allowing for transparency and security of data.

Applications deployed on NEAR are locked and cannot be updated, ensuring secure storage of high-value assets.

NEAR represents an evolution beyond what has come before it, offering usability, scalability, and security for decentralized applications.