The NEAR whitepaper introduces NEAR, a decentralized application platform striving to redesign systems and application development for the open web. It aims to empower developers to create secure, scalable, and user-friendly applications for high-value digital assets. NEAR prioritizes usability, scalability, and decentralization through innovative sharding and consensus mechanisms. The document outlines NEAR's architecture, economics, governance, and primitives, highlighting its potential to enable new business models and foster a more collaborative relationship between users and applications. It also emphasizes the importance of community-driven development and governance for long-term sustainability and progress.