NEAR Protocol's 2026 Outlook: AI, Intent Protocol, and the Path to Mainstream Adoption

NEAR Protocol has outlined its key strategic focus for 2026, including the integration of AI-driven Intent, user-led AI systems, and the mainstream adoption of the Intent protocol into trading platforms. This layer 1 blockchain declares its transition into a new growth cycle and aims to redefine NEAR’s position in the digital asset space.

New Frontiers in Scalability: Achieving 1 Million TPS

Throughout 2025, NEAR achieved significant technical milestones at the implementation level. In public testnet validation, the protocol confirmed the capability to process 1 million transactions per second (TPS), demonstrating the feasibility of a sharded architecture capable of supporting large-scale decentralized applications (DApps).

Network expansion has been phased. During the infrastructure upgrade in 2025, the number of mainnet shards increased from 6 to 9, resulting in a 50% boost in throughput. With the activation of dynamic re-sharding, the network structure can automatically adjust in response to demand fluctuations, providing greater flexibility. This horizontal scalability evolution forms the foundation for Intent-based transaction processing.

“Sharding technology enables execution scaling across the entire Intent ecosystem,” NEAR emphasizes, highlighting its capacity to handle higher transaction volumes.

Full Deployment of AI Cloud and Privacy Protection Integration

The NEAR Foundation has launched two core products: AI Cloud and private chat features. These tools incorporate cryptographic privacy protections, allowing users to maintain ownership of their data while interacting with AI.

Already integrated into applications such as Brave Nightly, OpenMind AGI, and Phala Network, they have reached a combined user base of over 100 million across multiple platforms. Powered by hardware-based encryption, these tools serve as a counterbalance to centralized AI infrastructures.

NEAR advocates that “users should own their interaction experiences with AI,” establishing a stance that prioritizes privacy and convenience to meet community needs.

Governance Innovation: Exploring the “House of Stake” Model

Alongside technological advancements, NEAR is developing a new governance framework. Called the “House of Stake,” this system combines community participation with support from intelligent agents that reflect user intent. It aims to move beyond simple binary voting to implement a context-aware decision-making mechanism.

Market Response and Price Trends

Supported by this roadmap announcement and technological progress, NEAR’s price has experienced upward pressure. Currently, NEAR is priced at $1.68, with a 24-hour performance of -0.95%, indicating ongoing market expectations and short-term volatility.

NEAR’s strategic development for 2026 symbolizes a pursuit of next-generation blockchain protocols centered on scalability, AI integration, and user sovereignty.