The NEAR protocol has a native token, NEAR, that serves as an internal currency for on-chain transactions. Having some NEAR assets, you can access the growing number of NEAR-powered apps. You can transfer NEAR tokens between accounts or share them with other people wishing to join the NEAR community using NEAR Drops. Another way of using these tokens is passive income via staking; anyone in the NEAR community can stake their tokens in a specific validator’s pool to earn revenue from those tokens’ use. Validators typically receive a reward equaling 4.5% of the annualized NEAR token supply, sharing it with their investors.