NEAR has revealed plans to integrate the capabilities of both monolithic and modular blockchain scaling, recognizing their distinct approaches to four essential functions: data availability, execution, consensus, and settlement.

Monolithic blockchain systems perform all functions using the same set of nodes, offering high security, enhanced utility, and deployment convenience. However, they encounter limitations when faced with computationally intensive tasks, potentially compromising decentralization principles and increasing chain verification costs.

In contrast, modular blockchains segregate functions into dedicated layers to boost efficiency, a concept that gained prominence notably on Ethereum Layer-2 networks.

Each function—data availability, execution, consensus, and settlement—is deemed critical. Data availability ensures accessible data for state verification, execution facilitates user interaction during transaction signing, deployment, and smart contract transfer. Settlement marks transactions as irreversible after consensus is reached, where network nodes agree on the ledger's state.

The community has lauded NEAR's initiative, hailing it as an impressive advancement in blockchain technology's impact on the world.

Despite this, NEAR's native token has experienced a 2.92% decline in the past 24 hours, trading at $4.01. However, it has seen a 4.32% drop in the last 7 days and an 87.53% surge in the last 30 days. Near crypto price predictions suggest the coin could reach approximately $5 by year-end.

Kendall Cole, CEO of Proximity, introduced the idea of combining monolithic and modular blockchain scaling at NEARCON 2023, outlining NEAR's integration with the broader crypto tech stack in 2024 and beyond.

NEAR Protocol's announcement follows a summary of its 2023 developments, including the launch of BOS and NEAR DA, collaboration with Eigen Layer for Ethereum rollup fast finality, surpassing 6 million MAAs, and hosting the three largest Web3 dApps.