NEAR Protocol Unveils Confidential Cross-Chain Stack

NEAR Protocol has made significant advancements in its blockchain technology with the launch of a new infrastructure stack focused on cross-chain execution and confidential compute.

The update was introduced at NEARCON in San Francisco, which gathered representatives from top tech companies such as OpenAI, Google, Intel, AWS, Oracle, and Brave. The new features aim to enhance the security and privacy of transactions on the NEAR network.

One of the key components of the new stack is near.com, a consumer super-app that connects more than 35 blockchains through one account. This allows users to make cross-chain swaps, peer-to-peer transfers, and even confidential transactions without manual bridging.

The Confidential Intents feature provides restricted visibility for cross-chain transfers, deposits, and withdrawals, while keeping transaction details verifiable onchain but shielded from public view. This is particularly useful for institutions that require privacy to reduce frontrunning and strategy copying.

NEAR Protocol has also introduced IronClaw, an open-source AI agent runtime operating inside encrypted enclaves on NEAR AI Cloud. Agents can run continuously with hardware-level protection of credentials, enhancing the security of sensitive computations.