Solana in the Multi-Chain World by NEAR Intents: NEAR Protocol

One of the co-authors of the groundbreaking "Attention Is All You Need" paper that introduced transformers—the foundation of modern AI systems like ChatGPT—is now solving one of blockchain's most persistent problems. At Breakpoint 2025, NEAR Protocol co-founder Illia Polosukhin revealed how NEAR Intents has processed $3.6 billion in the last 30 days alone, fundamentally changing how users trade across different blockchain networks including Solana.

Summary

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Illia Polosukhin, who transitioned from AI research at Google to founding NEAR Protocol in 2018, presented a compelling vision for a truly interconnected blockchain ecosystem. His core message: cross-chain interactions have been painfully fragmented for too long, forcing most users to rely on centralized exchanges rather than accessing DeFi directly.

NEAR Intents introduces a paradigm shift through a new transaction type called an "intent"—where users simply express their desired outcome without needing to understand the complex execution mechanics. Instead of navigating multiple bridges, wallets, and gas costs, users can now say "I have Solana and want Zcash" and get matched with solvers (market makers or AI agents) who execute the trade seamlessly.

The infrastructure powering this experience relies on threshold multi-party computation for secure asset custody across chains, verifiable computing environments, and economic incentives for service deployment. With 28 chains already integrated and partnerships with major wallets like Trust Wallet and Ledger, NEAR Intents is delivering what Polosukhin describes as a "centralized exchange experience for decentralized users."

Beyond simple token swaps, the talk previewed intent-driven commerce launching with Abu Dhabi blockchain ADI, where natural language prompts like "I want to fly from Abu Dhabi to London for three days and visit museums" can trigger AI agents to propose itineraries and execute bookings—all settled on-chain.

Key Points:

The Cross-Chain Problem Defined

The blockchain ecosystem has evolved into isolated islands where moving assets between networks remains unnecessarily complex. Users face multiple pain points: understanding which wallet to use, calculating gas costs across different chains, identifying working bridges, and dealing with frequent failures. This fragmentation has pushed the majority of cryptocurrency users to remain on centralized exchanges, missing out on the benefits of DeFi and self-custody.

Polosukhin highlighted that for Web3 wallet developers, supporting all possible cross-chain routes adds enormous complexity. Each new bridge or chain integration multiplies the engineering burden, creating a barrier to providing smooth user experiences. The result is a fractured landscape where blockchain's promise of financial freedom is undermined by its own technical complexity.

How Intents Work Technically

NEAR Intents introduces a fundamentally different transaction model. Rather than constructing complex multi-step transactions across bridges and DEXes, users express their desired outcome as an "intent." This intent gets distributed to a network of solvers—market makers, proprietary trading firms, or AI agents—who compete to fulfill the request.

The process is remarkably fast because the initial matching happens off-chain within 100 milliseconds. Once matched, users create an agreement with their counterparty, then settle on-chain. Assets get sent to addresses controlled by multi-party computation, recorded on NEAR, and distributed to the destination. Crucially, this design eliminates MEV (Miner Extractable Value) because the counterparty agreement is established before on-chain execution.

Solana Ecosystem Integration

Multiple Solana projects are already leveraging NEAR Intents for their cross-chain needs. CryptoTrade announced their integration for bringing privacy features to various assets, particularly Zcash. Raydium is using the infrastructure for Zcash trading on Solana with cross-chain arbitrage capabilities. Orca has also integrated the technology.

SolSwap represents a Solana-specific interface for NEAR Intents, allowing users with Solana wallets to access trading across all supported assets in one place. This means Solana users can seamlessly trade assets from any of the 28 supported chains without leaving their preferred wallet environment.

Beyond Trading: Intent-Driven Commerce

While trading represents the most immediately impactful use case, Polosukhin previewed a broader vision for intents. The recently launched collaboration with ADI (Abu Dhabi's blockchain initiative) demonstrates intent-driven travel booking where natural language prompts trigger AI agents to propose and execute complex multi-step processes like flight booking, hotel reservations, and activity planning.

This paradigm extends to e-commerce and contractual service work. The fundamental innovation is creating a standardized way to find counterparties, reach agreements, and execute across both blockchain and traditional systems. Intents become a universal language for transactional outcomes regardless of the underlying infrastructure.

The Unified Liquidity Vision

NEAR's long-term goal is building a "unified liquid layer" that connects any chain, any asset on blockchains, and Web2 systems to all user interfaces, wallets, and applications. The vision is that users should be able to use any wallet—Solana, NEAR, Bitcoin, or others—to interact with any application while the execution machinery operates invisibly in the background.

This approach sources liquidity from all available pools simultaneously, including both on-chain liquidity and traditional market makers. By aggregating these sources rather than fragmenting them across bridges, users get better pricing and faster execution than traditional cross-chain methods.

Facts + Figures

• NEAR Intents processed $3.6 billion in volume over the last 30 days
• Volume has been doubling every month since launch in late 2024
• 28 blockchain networks are currently integrated with more being added
• Initial intent matching happens within 100 milliseconds off-chain
• Trust Wallet, Ledger, Infinex, and Skyber have integrated NEAR Intents
• Illia Polosukhin co-authored the 2017 "Attention Is All You Need" paper introducing transformers
• NEAR Protocol was founded in 2018, launching from San Francisco alongside Solana
• Solana integrations include CryptoTrade, Raydium, Orca, and SolSwap
• Intent-driven travel commerce launched with Abu Dhabi blockchain ADI this week
• Multi-party computation enables secure cross-chain asset custody
• The system uses threshold cryptography and verifiable computing environments

Top Quotes

"Cross chain has been extremely painful. And if we look out, the reality is most of users have been sitting on centralized exchanges kind of historically for all of the time that blockchain existed."

"We really introduced a new type of transaction. We call it an intent where you can actually express the outcome you want without needing to figure out how exact the execution going to work."

"There's no MEV, because this contract between you and the counterparty is done off-chain."

"It's kind of a self custodial users. So really exciting. Growing extremely, it's been doubling every month since we launched it."

"This also then gets extended to e-commerce, to actual contractual service work. So really intents is kind of this new paradigm to find the counterparty and get agreement with them."

"What we're trying to build is really this unified liquid layer, where you can actually plug in into any chain on any kind of asset on blockchains into Web2."

"We actually were neighbors with Solana in San Francisco when we were starting."

Questions Answered

What is an intent in blockchain terms?

An intent is a new type of transaction where users express their desired outcome rather than specifying exact execution steps. For example, instead of manually bridging assets, swapping on a DEX, and managing gas across multiple chains, you simply state "I have Solana and want Zcash." The system then matches you with solvers—market makers or AI agents—who compete to fulfill your request. This abstraction layer removes the complexity of cross-chain operations while ensuring users still maintain self-custody of their assets throughout the process.

How does NEAR Intents achieve better pricing than traditional bridges?

NEAR Intents aggregates liquidity from multiple sources simultaneously rather than relying on a single bridge or liquidity pool. Solvers can source from centralized exchanges, on-chain DEXes, proprietary trading positions, and other market makers. Additionally, because the counterparty agreement happens off-chain before settlement, there's no MEV extraction that typically increases costs on traditional DEX trades. This combination of broader liquidity access and MEV protection results in more competitive pricing for users.

Can I use my existing Solana wallet with NEAR Intents?

Yes, Solana users can access NEAR Intents through SolSwap, which is a Solana-specific interface that connects directly to Solana wallets. This allows users to trade assets across all 28 supported chains without leaving their familiar wallet environment. The underlying cross-chain execution is completely abstracted, meaning users experience what feels like a native Solana application while accessing global liquidity.

What makes NEAR Intents secure for cross-chain transfers?

Security comes from threshold multi-party computation (MPC), which enables assets to be custodied across different chains without any single party having full control. When you send assets as part of an intent, they go to addresses controlled by this distributed MPC network. Verifiable computing environments ensure the execution logic runs correctly, while economic incentives align solver behavior with user interests. This architecture provides security guarantees similar to centralized exchanges but without requiring trust in a single entity.

How fast are cross-chain trades using intents?

The initial matching process happens off-chain within 100 milliseconds, making it feel nearly instantaneous to receive a quote. Settlement time depends on the underlying blockchain confirmation speeds, but the agreement is locked in before on-chain execution begins. This is significantly faster than traditional bridge-and-swap approaches that require multiple transactions across different networks.

What Solana projects are using NEAR Intents?

Several Solana ecosystem projects have integrated NEAR Intents. CryptoTrade uses it to bring privacy features to various assets including Zcash. Raydium integrates it for Zcash trading and cross-chain arbitrage. Orca has also adopted the technology. SolSwap provides a dedicated Solana interface for accessing the full NEAR Intents network. These integrations demonstrate how Solana projects can expand their reach across the 28 supported chains.

What is intent-driven commerce beyond token trading?

Intent-driven commerce extends the intent paradigm to real-world transactions. The example presented involves travel booking where users can state natural language requests like "I want to fly from Abu Dhabi to London for three days and visit museums." AI agent solvers then propose itineraries, handle booking logistics, and execute payments—all settled on-chain. This model applies to e-commerce, service contracts, and any transaction where finding a counterparty and reaching agreement matters.

Why did the transformer paper co-author move to blockchain?

Illia Polosukhin left Google in 2017 to start an AI company but quickly discovered they needed blockchain infrastructure to coordinate and pay global contributors. This practical need led to founding NEAR Protocol in 2018. The AI background now informs NEAR's approach, particularly in using AI agents as solvers for intent fulfillment and natural language interfaces for expressing complex transaction desires.