Helius-CEO von Solana tritt dem Rat bei, der die NEAR Foundation leitet

BSC News · 2026-10-15T22:26:30.000Z

Helius-CEO @mert ist dem NEAR Foundation Council beigetreten, dem Gremium, das die NEAR Protocol Foundation und ihre wichtigsten Entscheidungen beaufsichtigt. Er bleibt bei @Helius, das Solana-Infrastruktur ($SOL) entwickelt, die von Phantom, Jupiter und Coinbase genutzt wird. Die NEAR Foundation gab die Ernennung am Donnerstag in einer Erklärung bekannt, die sie mit The Block teilte. Mumtaz wird dabei helfen, die Produktstrategie, das Wachstum des Ökosystems und die Governance zu steuern, während NEAR seine Vision eines privaten Onchain-Marktes weiterverfolgt. Außerdem wird er den bevorstehenden NEAR Hackathon bewerten, der vom 1. bis 14. November stattfindet.

Helius CEO @mert has joined the NEAR Foundation Council, the body that oversees the NEAR Protocol foundation and its biggest decisions. He remains at @Helius, which builds Solana ($SOL) infrastructure used by Phantom, Jupiter and Coinbase.
The appointment was announced by the NEAR Foundation in a statement shared with The Block on Thursday. Mumtaz will help guide product strategy, ecosystem growth and governance as NEAR expands its private onchain market vision, and will also judge the upcoming NEAR Hackathon running from Nov. 1 to 14.
Who sits on the NEAR Foundation Council
The Council's members include NEAR co-founder Illia Polosukhin, Anchorage Digital co-founder Diogo Mónica, former NEAR Foundation COO Chris Donovan and NEAR One founder Bowen Wang. The Council works as an oversight body, separate from the foundation's executive team.
Helius builds Solana infrastructure used by teams including Phantom, Jupiter, Coinbase and Bitwise, with services covering remote procedure call nodes, data streaming, transaction delivery and validators.
Polosukhin said Mumtaz's conviction, technical depth and direct approach will be a great asset to the Council as NEAR works to bring private assets and markets to every chain.
Why NEAR Intents is the common thread
Mumtaz is an early user of NEAR Intents. Bankless reports he has called NEAR "the market of markets," a neutral layer connecting chains like Solana, Zcash and AI networks. Mumtaz's own view is that Solana, Zcash ($ZEC) and Bitcoin ($BTC) cannot win alone, and that @NEARProtocol is how they work together.
The appointment comes as NEAR Intents grows. According to the foundation, NEAR Intents has processed more than $33 billion in all-time volume. For comparison, Brave said earlier this year the protocol had executed over 19 million swaps and more than $14 billion in all-time volume across 35 chains.
The protocol's design explains the cross-chain pitch. Users state the outcome they want, such as "I have Solana and want Zcash," and solvers (market makers or AI agents) compete to execute the trade. NEAR Intents' bridge documentation lists support for chains including Bitcoin, Solana and Zcash.
The seat gives a leading Solana infrastructure operator a formal role in NEAR governance, which suggests growing overlap between two ecosystems often seen as rivals. The foundation has said the appointment reflects its emphasis on interoperability, privacy and infrastructure that can connect liquidity across multiple blockchain networks.
Sources
The Block: Helius CEO Mert Mumtaz joins NEAR Foundation Council
PR Newswire: Helius CEO Mert Mumtaz Joins the NEAR Foundation Council
Bankless: Helius CEO Mert Mumtaz Joins NEAR Foundation Council