NEAR Business Draws Several Million Dollars in Assets After Launch

NEAR Business has attracted several million dollars in assets, giving the protocol an early adoption marker for its treasury service across more than 35 blockchains, Harshit Tiwari, NEAR's vice president of growth, said.

The platform launched Oct. 20 as an invite-only treasury service for companies operating across more than 35 blockchains. It supports payroll, vendor payments, swaps and treasury operations. Tiwari said interest has come from layer-one foundations and early-stage startups, and that some NEAR Intents partners are opening treasuries to collect and store fees.

“Confidentiality should be the default,” Tiwari said. Transaction amounts, asset types and recipients are hidden from public view, while membership, roles and approval decisions can be verified onchain. Tiwari said businesses also need to share records selectively with auditors and regulators.

NEAR Business uses a self-custodial multisignature Treasury Contract. Its multiparty computation network authorizes transactions after the required approvals are in place. Tiwari did not specify whether operators managing the confidential shard could view the underlying records.

The launch followed an Oct. 1 exploit of NEAR Intents, the crosschain trading infrastructure that supports the service. A vulnerability in its Omni deposit and withdrawal system let an attacker drain about $3.8 million. NEAR Intents set a 48-hour return deadline, and the attacker sent the funds back.

Tiwari said NEAR has since strengthened its deposit infrastructure and expanded SHIELD, its AI-powered threat detection system. The changes include real-time anomaly monitoring and security feeds from several partners, including ZeroShadow and Seal911. NEAR is developing custom spending policies and exploring optional enterprise tiers, Tiwari said.