---
title: "NEAR Protocol"
description: "NEAR account IDs have a loose grammar. The validator accepts it all, while identify avoids claiming Bitcoin addresses."
canonical_url: "https://chains.agntn.dev/chains/near"
---
# NEAR Protocol

> NEAR account IDs have a loose grammar. The validator accepts it all, while identify avoids claiming Bitcoin addresses.

<chain-facts chain="near">



</chain-facts>

## Address format

A NEAR address is an account ID. Named accounts read like domains: `wrap.near`, `usdt.tether-token.near`. Only `near` can create `alice.near`. Top-level names like `aurora` exist too.

The library follows `validate` in near-account-id-rs. An ID has 2 to 64 characters. It uses lowercase `a-z` and `0-9`. Separators `-`, `_` and `.` go between parts. They can't appear at either end or next to another separator. Uppercase fails.

Typed accounts carry a key instead of a name:

- NEAR-implicit: 64 hex digits, an Ed25519 public key.
- ETH-implicit: `0x` and 40 lowercase hex digits.
- Deterministic: `0s` and 40 hex digits.
- Universal: `0u` and 52 Crockford base32 digits.

They pass the same grammar. Nothing extra is decoded.

There's no checksum. Mistype `wrap.near` as `wrap.neat` and the grammar is perfectly happy.

```ts
import { getChain } from "@agntn/chains";

const chain = getChain("near");
chain.assertAddress("wrap.near"); // returned unchanged
chain.assertAddress("aurora"); // a top-level name, returned unchanged
chain.type; // "near"
chain.caip2; // "near:mainnet"
```

NEAR has 24 decimals, with 10^24 yoctoNEAR per NEAR. Its SLIP-44 coin type is 397.

The ChainAgnostic registry has no NEAR namespace. The `near:mainnet` ID is what WalletConnect wallets pass around.

## Why identify is pickier

How loose is that grammar? It accepts `bc1qw508d6qejxtdg4y5r3zarvary0c5xw7kv8f3t4`, a Bitcoin SegWit address. It also accepts every lowercase Bech32 address and every bare CashAddr.

NEAR overrides `claimsAddress` for `identify`. It claims IDs with a dot and the four typed forms. Bare words stay out of `identify`, but `assertAddress` still accepts them. That boundary makes sense.

A lowercase `0x` address with 40 hex digits appears on both NEAR and EVM chains. An ETH-implicit account represents the same 20 bytes.

## Transaction hashes

A transaction hash is a 32-byte `CryptoHash` in base58. It's read the way `CryptoHash::from_str` reads it.

## Spellings

`near`, `NEAR Protocol`. The key is `near`, the rest resolve through `getChain`.


## Sitemap

See the full [sitemap](https://chains.agntn.dev/sitemap.md) for all pages.