{"id":"skv5Lm6kB8I","title":"NEAR Rabbit Hole Ep. 5 :  Retrospective 2025","description":"2025 is coming to an end and it has been a special year for $NEAR, with many positive developments. Core and ecosystem devs continued shipping despite poor market conditions, which deserves hats off.\n\nLet’s talk about it!\n\n—\nTIMESTAMPS\n00:00:14 → Intro to the series\n00:01:00 → Retrospective 2025\n00:01:31 → March: 8 shards\n00:01:53 → May: 600ms blocktime, 1.2s finality\n00:02:26 → Mid-2025: NEAR Intents\n00:02:58 → August: 8 to 9 shards\n00:03:17 → December: 1M TPS benchmark test\n00:03:41 → Back to October: Inflation halving\n00:03:57 → NEAR AI Cloud and Private Chat\n00:04:40 → Conclusion\n—\n\nWelcome to the NEAR Rabbit Hole content series that will guide you down this exciting rabbit hole that is the @NEARProtocol, exploring all its facets.\n\nNo worries if you can’t digest it all at once… it’s part of the process. Feel free to ask questions, correct me, like, share, follow, and subscribe.\n\nThis series is sponsored by NEARDevHub, part of the Public Goods for NEAR Protocol campaign. Yet, everything here reflects my genuine thoughts and opinions limited to my knowledge of these things.\n\nThis is Episode 5, and you can watch previous episodes on X at /vinibarbosabr, on the free publication thecoding.substack, and now also on the NEARDevHub YouTube channel. You can also follow @NEARDevHub on X and visit docs.near.org for more information about the ecosystem.\n\n2025 was a fantastic year and, I have to say, this is just the beginning.\nLet me know your thoughts in the comments.\n\nLike, share, follow, and subscribe for more.","channel_name":"NEAR DevHub","published_at":"2026-01-09T00:00:00.000Z","thumbnail_url":"https://img.youtube.com/vi/skv5Lm6kB8I/hqdefault.jpg","transcript_text":"2025 is coming to an end and it has been a special year for an year with many positive developments. Core and ecosystem devs continue shipping despite poor market conditions which deserves a head up. Let's talk about it. Welcome to the near habit hole content series that will guide you down this exciting rabbit hole that is the near protocol exploring all its facets. No worries if you can't digest it all at once. It's part of the process. Feel free to ask questions, correct me, like, share, follow, and subscribe. This series is sponsored by Near DevHub, part of the public goods for near protocol campaign. Yet everything here reflects my genuine thoughts and opinions limited to my knowledge of these things. This is episode 5 and you can watch previous episodes on X at Vinerbos on the free publication the coding.substack.com and now also on the NearDevHub YouTube channel. You can also follow nearHub on X and visit neardevhub.org for more information about the ecosystem. 2025 is coming to an end and it has been a special year for near with many positive developments. First and foremost, I have to say I started researching near in 2022. Created my account in 2023. got excited about the underlying tech but mostly ignore near until this year mid 2025. At one point I simply couldn't ignore it any longer and it is from that point that I will start this retrospective. In March near went from six to eight shards with recharging happening in one block instead of requiring validator nodes building the entire state of new shards from scratch in Bo Wang's words. A process he says would take one hour to finish here settled in a block time in May near reduced this block time to 600 milliseconds achieving finality in 1.2 two seconds and becoming one of the fastest L1 blockchains in time to finality. Sending and receiving transactions and interacting with the near ecosystem now happen in the blink of an eye like magic. Near one is currently working towards reducing block time to 200 milliseconds. Previously promised by year end but still not delivered as of this writing. It was also from mid 2025 that nearing tense really started to gain some traction, adding support to more than 20 blockchains and hundreds of tokens, ramping up its metrics that we covered in episode 4, including volume, swap count, unique addresses, and fee revenue. It has consolidated as one of the most successful cases of productive market feed in crypto this year, gaining significant recognition. In August, the near blockchain continued scaling, adding its 9th shard after splitting shard zero into shards 10 and 11. near scales with demand by adding new shards and in 2025 it has proved it has both demand and scaling capacity. On that note, the core devs conducted three benchmark tests in December processing around 1 million transactions per second for 1 hour in all three runs. TPS peaked at above 1.3 million and is one of the L1 chains with the highest maximum theoretical capacity. Back in October, the network voted and approved with over 80% approval rate to reduce annual tail emission from 5% to 2.5% performing near force inflation hing on the AI side of things. The chain and ecosystem continued to develop leading tools and products as we have seen in episode 2. Between November and December, the team launched near AI cloud for verifiable privacy when using open-source models with is a stack ar implemented by brave browser file network open mind AGI and nearest hosted product private chat providing verifiable privacy for gyps v3.1 kim K2 thinking GPT opensource software Queen 3 and GLM4.6. A lot of other developments have happened in the ecosystem and I would need at least 10 times more words to describe them all. This however is just a quick overlook to illustrate part of the interest things I have seen happening around near protocol. So make sure you do your own research and share your discoveries with others. For me, it has been a very fun and educative experience to get back to studying near and contributing to the ecosystem. I am running a chunk validator at decoding.pool.near going with over 120,000 near delegated partially thanks to metapool's nodes to cohort 2 and to other delegators who trust me for supporting the network. 2025 was a fantastic year and I have to say this is just the beginning. Let me know your thoughts in the comments. Like, share, follow, and subscribe for more. See you.","transcript_synced_at":"2026-11-03T03:49:06.318Z","segments":[{"start_seconds":0,"text":"2025 is coming to an end and it has been a special year for an year with many positive developments. Core and","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skv5Lm6kB8I&t=0s"},{"start_seconds":7,"text":"ecosystem devs continue shipping despite poor market conditions which deserves a head up. Let's talk about it. Welcome to","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skv5Lm6kB8I&t=7s"},{"start_seconds":16,"text":"the near habit hole content series that will guide you down this exciting rabbit hole that is the near protocol exploring all its facets. No worries if you can't","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skv5Lm6kB8I&t=16s"},{"start_seconds":23,"text":"digest it all at once. It's part of the process. Feel free to ask questions, correct me, like, share, follow, and subscribe. This series is sponsored by","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skv5Lm6kB8I&t=23s"},{"start_seconds":31,"text":"Near DevHub, part of the public goods for near protocol campaign. Yet everything here reflects my genuine thoughts and opinions limited to my knowledge of these things. This is","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skv5Lm6kB8I&t=31s"},{"start_seconds":40,"text":"episode 5 and you can watch previous episodes on X at Vinerbos on the free publication the coding.substack.com","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skv5Lm6kB8I&t=40s"},{"start_seconds":49,"text":"and now also on the NearDevHub YouTube channel. You can also follow nearHub on X and visit neardevhub.org for more information about the ecosystem.","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skv5Lm6kB8I&t=49s"},{"start_seconds":61,"text":"2025 is coming to an end and it has been a special year for near with many positive developments. First and foremost, I have to say I started","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skv5Lm6kB8I&t=61s"},{"start_seconds":70,"text":"researching near in 2022. Created my account in 2023. got excited about the underlying tech but mostly ignore near","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skv5Lm6kB8I&t=70s"},{"start_seconds":79,"text":"until this year mid 2025. At one point I simply couldn't ignore it any longer and","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skv5Lm6kB8I&t=79s"},{"start_seconds":87,"text":"it is from that point that I will start this retrospective.","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skv5Lm6kB8I&t=87s"},{"start_seconds":91,"text":"In March near went from six to eight shards with recharging happening in one block instead of requiring validator","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skv5Lm6kB8I&t=91s"},{"start_seconds":100,"text":"nodes building the entire state of new shards from scratch in Bo Wang's words.","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skv5Lm6kB8I&t=100s"},{"start_seconds":105,"text":"A process he says would take one hour to finish here settled in a block time in","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skv5Lm6kB8I&t=105s"},{"start_seconds":112,"text":"May near reduced this block time to 600 milliseconds achieving finality in 1.2","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skv5Lm6kB8I&t=112s"},{"start_seconds":120,"text":"two seconds and becoming one of the fastest L1 blockchains in time to finality. Sending and receiving transactions and interacting with the","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skv5Lm6kB8I&t=120s"},{"start_seconds":128,"text":"near ecosystem now happen in the blink of an eye like magic. Near one is currently working towards reducing block time to 200 milliseconds.","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skv5Lm6kB8I&t=128s"},{"start_seconds":140,"text":"Previously promised by year end but still not delivered as of this writing.","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skv5Lm6kB8I&t=140s"},{"start_seconds":145,"text":"It was also from mid 2025 that nearing tense really started to gain some traction, adding support to more than 20","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skv5Lm6kB8I&t=145s"},{"start_seconds":154,"text":"blockchains and hundreds of tokens, ramping up its metrics that we covered in episode 4, including volume, swap","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skv5Lm6kB8I&t=154s"},{"start_seconds":163,"text":"count, unique addresses, and fee revenue.","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skv5Lm6kB8I&t=163s"},{"start_seconds":167,"text":"It has consolidated as one of the most successful cases of productive market feed in crypto this year, gaining significant recognition.","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skv5Lm6kB8I&t=167s"},{"start_seconds":178,"text":"In August, the near blockchain continued scaling, adding its 9th shard after splitting shard zero into shards 10 and","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skv5Lm6kB8I&t=178s"},{"start_seconds":185,"text":"11. near scales with demand by adding new shards and in 2025 it has proved it","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skv5Lm6kB8I&t=185s"},{"start_seconds":194,"text":"has both demand and scaling capacity. On that note, the core devs conducted three benchmark tests in December processing","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skv5Lm6kB8I&t=194s"},{"start_seconds":202,"text":"around 1 million transactions per second for 1 hour in all three runs. TPS peaked","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skv5Lm6kB8I&t=202s"},{"start_seconds":211,"text":"at above 1.3 million and is one of the L1 chains with the highest maximum","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skv5Lm6kB8I&t=211s"},{"start_seconds":218,"text":"theoretical capacity. Back in October, the network voted and approved with over","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skv5Lm6kB8I&t=218s"},{"start_seconds":225,"text":"80% approval rate to reduce annual tail emission from 5% to 2.5%","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skv5Lm6kB8I&t=225s"},{"start_seconds":232,"text":"performing near force inflation hing on the AI side of things. The chain and","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skv5Lm6kB8I&t=232s"},{"start_seconds":240,"text":"ecosystem continued to develop leading tools and products as we have seen in episode 2. Between November and","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skv5Lm6kB8I&t=240s"},{"start_seconds":248,"text":"December, the team launched near AI cloud for verifiable privacy when using","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skv5Lm6kB8I&t=248s"},{"start_seconds":254,"text":"open-source models with is a stack ar implemented by brave browser file","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skv5Lm6kB8I&t=254s"},{"start_seconds":260,"text":"network open mind AGI and nearest hosted product private chat providing","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skv5Lm6kB8I&t=260s"},{"start_seconds":267,"text":"verifiable privacy for gyps v3.1 kim K2 thinking GPT opensource software Queen 3 and GLM4.6.","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skv5Lm6kB8I&t=267s"},{"start_seconds":281,"text":"A lot of other developments have happened in the ecosystem and I would need at least 10 times more words to","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skv5Lm6kB8I&t=281s"},{"start_seconds":288,"text":"describe them all. This however is just a quick overlook to illustrate part of the interest things I have seen","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skv5Lm6kB8I&t=288s"},{"start_seconds":296,"text":"happening around near protocol. So make sure you do your own research and share your discoveries with others. For me, it","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skv5Lm6kB8I&t=296s"},{"start_seconds":304,"text":"has been a very fun and educative experience to get back to studying near and contributing to the ecosystem. I am","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skv5Lm6kB8I&t=304s"},{"start_seconds":312,"text":"running a chunk validator at decoding.pool.near going with over 120,000 near delegated","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skv5Lm6kB8I&t=312s"},{"start_seconds":321,"text":"partially thanks to metapool's nodes to cohort 2 and to other delegators who trust me for supporting the network.","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skv5Lm6kB8I&t=321s"},{"start_seconds":329,"text":"2025 was a fantastic year and I have to say this is just the beginning. Let me know your thoughts in the comments.","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skv5Lm6kB8I&t=329s"},{"start_seconds":338,"text":"Like, share, follow, and subscribe for more. See you.","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skv5Lm6kB8I&t=338s"}],"youtube_url":"https://youtube.com/watch?v=skv5Lm6kB8I","url":"https://near-pedia.xyz/videos/skv5Lm6kB8I"}