Bankless
NEAR’s AI Money Thesis: Intents, Privacy, and Tokenomics | Sal Ternullo
- Near Intents has achieved product-market fit and is processing ~$20 billion in total volume with $30+ million in fees to date, used by applications like Infinex, Zashi, and Venice AI for cross-chain transactions and abstraction.
- Near's tokenomics shifted in October 2024 with protocol emissions reduced to 2.5% annualized inflation; in February 2025, Intents fee burn began accruing to the Near token via buyback mechanics tracked at revenue.near.org.
- Near positions itself as infrastructure for agentic AI commerce through three vertical products: Intents (cross-chain settlement), Near AI (private inference via Near AI Cloud), and Ironclaw (AI agent framework).
- The Near ecosystem employs a centralized team structure (Near Foundation, Diffuse Labs, Near AI) driving product development alongside commercial partnerships, contrasting with Ethereum's more distributed model.
- Confidential transactions launched on NEAR.com in late February 2025, embedding privacy into the protocol for both users and enterprises requiring data sovereignty and compliance (e.g., HIPAA).
- Sovereign, a Nasdaq-listed treasury and commercialization partner, is scaling MPC node infrastructure (targeting 21 operators) and driving go-to-market efforts to increase Near adoption and token demand.