NEAR Protocol by NEAR Foundation: status and timeline

NEAR Protocol

Enable unlimited throughput scaling through dynamic sharding while providing MEV-resistant cross-chain settlement.

ScalingStage 5 of 5

Live with dynamic resharding and post-quantum security. Intents: $22B+. SPICE: ~200ms block time.

Updated 20 Jul 2026Checked 11 Oct0 updates this week

Milestones

Next · SPICE architecture deployment for sub-400ms finality

NEAR Protocol mainnet launch2020Complete.
NEAR Intents cross-chain layer launchesQ4 2024Complete.
NEAR Intents reaches $10B cumulative volumeJan 2026Complete.
Dynamic resharding and NIST ML-DSA post-quantum signing ship20 Jul 2026Complete.
NEAR Intents reaches $22B+ cumulative volumeJun 2026Complete.
SPICE architecture deployment for sub-400ms finalityTarget Q4 2026Not yet reached.

Most important updates

Upcoming

Q4 2026SPICE architecture deployment for sub-400ms finality (next)
Q4 2026Near One account standards rollout

Current obstacles

Coordinating state across shardsWhen transactions touch multiple shards, coordination overhead can reduce gains from parallelism.
Confidential Intents require trusted hardwareMEV-protected private swaps require trusted execution environments (TEEs), introducing a different trust model than pure consensus.

Physics limits

Sharding adds cross-shard latencyTransactions that span multiple shards must coordinate across shard boundaries, adding delay relative to single-shard transactions.
Quantum resistance requires larger keysML-DSA signatures are larger than elliptic-curve signatures, increasing storage and bandwidth overhead.

How it works

4 parts

Sharding

Dynamic resharding for elastic scaling

Network automatically splits overused shards or merges underutilized ones based on demand.

Intents

Intent-based cross-chain settlement

Users express swaps as intents; the layer finds optimal routes and executes with MEV resistance.

Finality

SPICE separates consensus from execution

Upcoming upgrade reduces block times from 600ms to ~200ms for faster finality and lower confirmation latency.

Security

Post-quantum ML-DSA alongside ED25519

NIST-approved quantum-resistant signing protects accounts against future quantum computers.

Spec sheet

Spec	NEAR Protocol
Theoretical throughput	1 million TPS^R (reported)
NEAR Intents cumulative volume	$22B+^R (reported)
Chains connected via Intents	35+^R (reported)
Confidential Intents TVL (Q2 2026)	$30M^R (reported)
SPICE target finality	~400 ms^R (reported)

^R reported by the company

Update log

2 updates

Mon 20 Jul

Major: NEAR ships dynamic resharding and NIST post-quantum ML-DSA signing on mainnetPressSoftware

Jun 2026

Major: NEAR Intents settles $22B+ in cumulative cross-chain swaps across 35+ blockchainsPressCommercial

About NEAR Foundation

The team behind NEAR Protocol

NEAR Foundation

NEAR Protocol sharded blockchain, cross-chain intents

Switzerland-based non-profit supporting NEAR Protocol, a sharded layer-1 blockchain. Founded 2020. In 2026, shipped dynamic resharding and post-quantum ML-DSA; Intents layer processed $22B+ cross-chain swaps.

NEAR Protocol is a sharded layer-1 blockchain with human-readable account names, designed for scalability and developer experience.
NEAR Intents settles cross-chain swaps with MEV resistance, handling $22B+ across 35+ chains.
In 2026, shipped dynamic resharding for elastic scaling and ML-DSA post-quantum signing. SPICE targets sub-400ms finality.

near.foundation (opens near.foundation)Company profile →

Founded: 20206 yrs
Headquarters: Switzerland
Status: Non-profit
Valuation: non-profit
Works in: CryptoBlockchains (L1s)
Coverage: 1 program · 2 updateslatest 20 Jul 2026checked 11 Oct
Partners: NEAR Collective (opens near.org)
People: Illia Polosukhin (opens near.foundation)CEO

Spec

NEAR Protocol

Theoretical throughput

1 million TPS^R (reported)

NEAR Intents cumulative volume

$22B+^R (reported)

Chains connected via Intents

35+^R (reported)

Confidential Intents TVL (Q2 2026)

$30M^R (reported)

SPICE target finality

~400 ms^R (reported)