NEAR Protocol reported achieving 1 million transactions per second in a publicly verifiable benchmark designed to reflect realistic network conditions. The test used actual NEAR core code, 70 shards, and cost-efficient Google Cloud C4D machines, replicating hardware setups accessible to independent validators. The result supports NEAR’s architectural approach, which relies on horizontal scaling through sharding rather than monolithic block production.
The benchmark reinforces the protocol’s long-standing thesis that distributing execution and state across parallel shards allows throughput to increase as demand grows. NEAR’s recent upgrades, including Nightshade 2.0 and stateless validation, have contributed to higher efficiency and lower hardware requirements for network participants.
According to the engineering team, most optimizations applied during the benchmark will be included in upcoming releases. The milestone underscores NEAR’s intent to support high-volume applications, including cross-chain activity and emerging onchain AI systems, without compromising decentralization or cost efficiency.
