NEAR says financial privacy is key to bringing business treasuries onchain

Businesses will not move their finances onchain while every salary, supplier payment and reserve balance remains visible to competitors, Harshit Tiwari, vice president of growth at $NEAR, told Crypto Briefing in a written interview following the launch of $NEAR Business.

The invite only platform, launched October 20, allows companies to manage payroll, vendor payments, swaps and treasury operations across more than 35 blockchains while keeping transaction details private.

Tiwari said the platform has already attracted several million dollars in assets, with interest ranging from layer 1 foundations to early stage startups. Existing $NEAR Intents partners are also opening treasuries to collect and store fees.

“Confidentiality should be the default,” Tiwari said, arguing that public blockchains expose financial activity to competitors and potential attackers.

He added that businesses need selective disclosure mechanisms to share records with auditors and regulators without making their transactions publicly accessible.

$NEAR Business separates financial confidentiality from governance transparency. Transaction amounts, assets and recipients remain private, while membership, roles and approval decisions are publicly verifiable onchain.

The platform uses a self custodial multisignature Treasury Contract, with transactions authorized through $NEAR’s multiparty computation network once the required approvals are met. Tiwari did not clarify whether operators of the confidential shard can access the underlying transaction data.

$NEAR expands security monitoring following $3.8M exploit

The launch follows an October 1 exploit of $NEAR Intents, the crosschain trading infrastructure supporting $NEAR Business, in which an attacker drained approximately $3.8 million through a vulnerability involving its Omni deposit and withdrawal system.

The attacker returned the funds after $NEAR Intents issued a 48 hour ultimatum. Tiwari said the protocol has since strengthened its deposit infrastructure and expanded SHIELD, its AI powered threat detection system, with real time anomaly monitoring and security feeds from partners including ZeroShadow and Seal911.

$NEAR Business charges no subscription fee, instead collecting fees on swaps executed through $NEAR Intents. Tiwari said the protocol is exploring optional enterprise tiers while developing custom spending policies for broader commercial use.

Unlike privacy platforms such as Zama and Aztec, $NEAR Business is designed to operate across multiple blockchains rather than within a single ecosystem, Tiwari said.

Looking ahead, Tiwari expects AI agents to execute a growing share of financial transactions. He said supporting automated treasury operations will require additional safeguards, including formal code verification, confidential computing and transaction monitoring.