NEAR Protocol is a blockchain platform designed for AI applications. It's built to support decentralized applications and intelligent agents, offering the infrastructure needed for AI to operate across both Web2 and Web3 environments. NEAR integrates user-owned AI, ensuring AI agents act in the user's interest, with Intents and Chain Abstraction, which simplify blockchain complexity for seamless transactions across chains. Its sharded blockchain architecture is designed to provide the scalability, speed, and low costs required for AI and Web3 applications. This makes NEAR a foundation for building secure, user-owned, AI-native applications.Key components and features of NEAR Protocol:Sharding: NEAR uses a sharding mechanism called Nightshade, which divides the blockchain into smaller parts (shards) to allow for parallel processing of transactions. This increases transaction throughput and reduces computational overhead.AI Integration: NEAR is actively developing AI-powered features, including "Shade Agents" that use trusted execution environments (TEEs) for verifiable and confidential processing.Chain Abstraction: NEAR aims to connect multiple blockchains, enabling seamless interactions across different ecosystems.Scalability: NEAR's architecture is designed to scale efficiently, supporting a high number of transactions per second with low fees.Developer Experience: NEAR focuses on providing a developer-friendly platform with tools and resources for building decentralized applications.