news.bitcoin.com
16 October 2026 19:52, UTC
Near Protocol is making Solana a new distribution channel for its native token.
Near and Sunrise announced on Oct. 15 that $NEAR is now available on Solana, with liquidity accessible across wallets, decentralized exchanges such as Jupiter and Raydium, and trading aggregators.
The bridge between ecosystems is powered by Near Intents, which handles canonical cross-chain movement into Solana.
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The rollout starts with $NEAR, but the partners plan to support additional assets and eventually integrate Near Intents directly into Sunrise. That would create more routes for crypto liquidity to reach Solana without requiring users to navigate separate bridging systems.
The partnership divides the infrastructure neatly.
Near Intents provides access to assets across multiple blockchains, while Sunrise focuses on creating liquid Solana markets for those assets. That distinction matters because cross-chain crypto infrastructure has often suffered from fragmented liquidity and cumbersome user experiences.
Instead of asking every application to build a dedicated bridge, Near is positioning Intents as a routing layer that can connect assets and liquidity across ecosystems. Direct integration with Sunrise is planned next, potentially widening the number of assets that can enter Solana through the same infrastructure.
$NEAR’s price traded between $5.24 and $5.30 following the announcement, up by 14% over 24 hours.
The move coincided with the expansion, though short-term token performance can reflect broader crypto market conditions as well as project-specific news. However, in the last 30 days, the price of $NEAR has more than doubled amid broader ecosystem momentum—including the launch of Bitwise’s $NEAR ETF.
For $NEAR, the strategic significance goes beyond price.
Solana already hosts deep liquidity across DEXs, wallets, and market-making infrastructure. Making $NEAR natively accessible inside that environment could widen its trading base and improve distribution without forcing users to leave the Solana ecosystem.
The cross-chain push is also gaining a prominent Solana voice.
Mert Mumtaz, CEO of Helius, has joined the Near Foundation Council, where he will help guide product strategy, go-to-market execution, and ecosystem development. He joins council members including Near co-founder Illia Polosukhin and Anchorage Digital co-founder Diogo Mónica.
“For crypto to win, we need connected, unstoppable liquidity at planetary scale,” Mumtaz said. “Neither solana, zcash, or bitcoin can win on their own; we must work together. And $NEAR is how.”
That captures the bigger bet.
Near is no longer pitching interoperability as background infrastructure. It is trying to make cross-chain liquidity a core product, with Solana now one of its most important proving grounds.
