Hassan Maishera
On Tuesday, the Near Protocol announced via X that it has unveiled Near.com, a new crypto wallet and consumer app that aims to make blockchain technology feel as simple as using a traditional finance app, while positioning itself at the intersection of crypto and artificial intelligence (AI).
The product was unveiled by NEAR co-founder Illia Polosukhin, who described it as part of a broader shift toward what he calls the “agentic era,” a future where AI systems don’t just provide answers, but take action on behalf of users.
Near.com is designed to remove much of the friction that has long made crypto confusing for everyday users. Instead of worrying about gas fees, private keys, or switching between different blockchains, users can manage their assets in one place.
According to the team, Near.com supports a range of digital assets, including bitcoin, stablecoins, NFTs, and other tokens. The idea is to bring together activities that are typically spread across multiple wallets and networks into a single, streamlined interface.
NEAR Protocol is a decentralized application platform designed to make apps similarly usable to those on today’s web. The network runs on a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism called Nightshade, which aims to provide dynamic scalability and stabilize fees.
NEAR combines three core elements: User-Owned AI, which ensures agents act in users’ best interests; Intents and Chain Abstraction, which eliminate blockchain complexity for seamless, goal-driven transactions across chains; and a sharded blockchain architecture that delivers the scalability, speed, and low-cost execution needed for real-world AI and Web3 use. NEAR is trading at $0.9684, down 2.3% in the last 24 hours.
