NEAR Protocol vs Shardeum

NEAR Protocol4.1/5

VS

Shardeum3.2/5

Feature	NEAR ProtocolVisit	ShardeumVisit
Ratings
Our score	4.1/5	3.2/5
User rating	No reviews yet	No reviews yet
Performance	4.5	3.5
Fees	4.5	4.0
Ecosystem	3.5	2.5
Decentralization	4.0	2.5
Developer experience	4.0	4.0
Specs
Layer	Layer 1	Layer 1
Consensus / design	Proof of Stake	Proof of Stake
Native token	NEAR	SHM
EVM compatible	No	Yes
Smart contract languages	Rust, JavaScript	Solidity
Block time	600ms	2-3 seconds
Finality	1.2s	Deterministic
Validators / sequencer	Not disclosed	24
Mainnet since	2,020	2,025
Throughput (TPS)	1000000	Not disclosed
Sequencer	Not applicable	Not applicable
Data availability	NEAR Protocol	Not disclosed
Gas paid in	NEAR	SHM
Company
Founded	2020	2022
Headquarters	Switzerland	Switzerland
Investors	Andreessen Horowitz, Accomplice, Metastable Capital, Arrington Capital +6	Not disclosed
Strengths and weaknesses
Pros	Fast 1.2-second transaction finality with 600ms block times Cross-chain swap execution across 35+ separate blockchain networks Sub-cent execution fees on NEAR Intents transactions Annual token issuance reduced from 5% to 2.5% in October 2025	Block production every 2 to 3 seconds with deterministic finality Full EVM compatibility works directly with MetaMask and standard Solidity tooling Native SHM delegation lets holders earn staking yield without running hardware Raised $23.6M to back long-term infrastructure and ecosystem growth
Cons	Not natively EVM-compatible at the primary Layer-1 execution level Cross-chain intents face reorg exposure on connected networks, including a $600K incident in April 2026 Historical exploits in third-party ecosystem contracts, including $3M lost on Skyward Finance in 2022	Relatively small active validator set of 24 nodes recorded in May 2026 Experienced a planned 25-minute network halt during the October 2026 v1.1.0 upgrade SHM staking yield is vulnerable to token inflation and lockup schedules Young application ecosystem with limited total onchain liquidity
Best for	Developers writing smart contracts in Rust, Users swapping across chains without manual bridges, Teams deploying autonomous AI agent systems	Developers deploying EVM Solidity dApps, Real-world asset tokenization issuers, SHM holders seeking staking delegation

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