NEAR Protocol Mainnet Upgrade

NEAR Protocol, a leading L1 blockchain known for its developer-friendly and scalable dApp platform, has unveiled a significant mainnet upgrade. The upgrade has increased the network’s shards from six to eight, representing a 33% boost in capacity, as announced in a recent thread on X.

Key Highlights

• Capacity Increase: Approximately 33% increase in overall network capacity.
• Single-block Resharding: This new deployment method eliminates the need for lengthy state rebuilds.
• Faster Scaling: Supports quicker scaling towards a larger number of shards.

Details of the Upgrade

The move from 6 to 8 shards enhances NEAR Protocol’s infrastructure, led by Bowen Wang and the NEAR One team. A pivotal improvement is the implementation of single-block resharding, which significantly reduces downtime typically caused by lengthy state rebuilds required in previous shard expansions.

Bowen Wang emphasized the importance of this advancement. He noted that the old method required validators to rebuild shard states anew, taking around an hour. The new single-block resharding allows for efficient calculations of state roots within a logarithmic timeframe, enabling task completion within one block.

Additionally, this upgrade enhances the protocol’s capacity for dynamic resharding, an essential scalability feature that allows for automatic adjustment of shard counts to alleviate congestion.

Future Goals

NEAR Protocol aims to continue evolving with this recent upgrade, developed collaboratively by the NEAR team and the wider community. The dual shard-splitting capability introduced is vital for achieving the long-term goal of reaching fifty shards on the mainnet.