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Address Types in NEAR Protocol​

While NEAR supports multiple types of addresses, most accounts use one of two: named address or implicit address.

Implicit Accounts​

Implicit addresses are deterministically derived from cryptographic key, similarly to how accounts are created on other chains. For example:

  • The private key: ed25519:4x1xiJ6u3sZF3NgrwPUCnHqup2o...
  • Corresponds to the public key: ed25519:CQLP1o1F3Jbdttek3GoRJYhzfT...
  • And controls the account: a96ad3cb539b653e4b869bd7cf26590690e8971... (64 chars)

You don't even need to be online to create an implicit account, just generate a key pair and derive the address!

tip

You can delete the private key of an implicit account, effectively locking it forever! This creates a "burner" account that can receive funds but never spend them

Named Accounts​

One of NEAR's coolest features is named accounts, which are not only easy to share and remember, but also act as domains!

  1. Top-level accounts like near (or sweat and kaiching) are created by an account called registrar
  2. Sub-accounts can be created from top level accounts:
    • alice.near (created by near)
    • bob.tg (created by tg)
    • claim.sweat (created by sweat)
  3. In turn, sub-accounts can create sub-accounts of themselves!
    • app.alice.near (created by alice.near)
    • store.bob.tg (created by bob.tg)
  4. And so on...

The Rules​

While accounts can create sub-accounts, there are important rules to keep in mind:

  • No cross-account control: near cannot create app.bob.near - only bob.near can
  • Independent entities: Each account is completely separate - bob.near has no control over app.bob.near
  • Domain-like structure: This creates a familiar, organized system similar to how websites work
Why accounts do not control sub-accounts?

Because otherwise nobody could create their own .near or .sweat accounts!

Creating Named Accounts​

If only near can create alice.near, then how do you get a .near account?. The answer is, through the smart contract deployed on the near account.

Any account on NEAR Protocol (implicit, named or ethereum-like accounts) can call the function create_account on the near smart contract, passing an account name (e.g. alice.near) and a public key. This will create the new account alice.near, which will be controlled by the private counterpart of the provided public key.

Account Examples​

Let's look at how people can actually use NEAR accounts:

Personal Accounts​

  • john.near - A personal account for everyday use
  • trading.john.near - A sub-account specifically for trading activities
  • nft.john.near - A sub-account for NFT collections

Business Accounts​

  • company.near - Main business account
  • payroll.company.near - Sub-account for employee payments
  • marketing.company.near - Sub-account for marketing activities

Application Accounts​

  • myapp.near - Main application account
  • api.myapp.near - Sub-account for API services
  • user.myapp.near - Sub-account for user management

Quiz​

What are the two main types of NEAR accounts?

A. Public accounts and private accounts.

B. Named accounts (like alice.near) and implicit accounts (like 0x123...).

C. Personal accounts and business accounts.

D. Main accounts and backup accounts.