Sharding
Sharding splits a blockchain's workload across parallel sub-chains ("shards"), each processing its own transactions, so total throughput multiplies. Near's
Sharding splits a blockchain’s workload across parallel sub-chains (“shards”), each processing its own transactions, so total throughput multiplies. Near’s Nightshade and Ethereum’s data-sharding roadmap are the prominent examples.
Why it matters
Sharding is the main answer to “how does a base layer scale without becoming centralized?” Done well, anyone can still run a node for one shard while the network processes many shards at once. Done badly, cross-shard complexity creates new attack surfaces — which is why sharded chains get extra scrutiny in infrastructure scoring.