TheBlock
NEAR Foundation has appointed Helius CEO Mert Mumtaz to its Council, the governing body that oversees the foundation and its most significant decisions. Mumtaz will advise on product strategy, ecosystem growth and governance as NEAR develops its private onchain market vision. He will also judge the NEAR Hackathon running Nov. 1 to 14.
Why it matters
The appointment brings a Solana infrastructure executive into NEAR's leadership circle. Mumtaz leads Helius, whose services include RPC nodes, data streaming, transaction delivery and validators. Helius serves teams including Phantom, Jupiter, Coinbase and Bitwise. NEAR says Mumtaz was an early user of NEAR Intents and described it as “the market of markets.”
Council 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. Polosukhin said Mumtaz's technical depth and perspective would help guide what NEAR builds next.
Market impact
NEAR Foundation says NEAR Intents has processed more than $33 billion in all-time volume, with confidential TVL above $160 million. Those figures put the protocol's cross-chain market ambitions in view as Mumtaz joins the Council.
The appointment comes after a $3.8 million exploit earlier this month exposed a flaw in NEAR Intents' deposit and withdrawal infrastructure. The team said it patched the vulnerability and pledged full compensation; deposits and withdrawals across 11 blockchain networks faced a prolonged disruption. The growth strategy now sits alongside a clear security and reliability challenge.
Frequently asked questions
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What role will Mert Mumtaz take on at the NEAR Foundation?
Mumtaz joins the Foundation Council, which oversees the foundation and its most significant decisions. He will help guide product strategy, ecosystem growth and governance.
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What is Helius, and why is Mumtaz's background relevant to NEAR?
Helius is a Solana infrastructure firm offering RPC nodes, data streaming, transaction delivery and validators. Its clients include Phantom, Jupiter, Coinbase and Bitwise.
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What scale has NEAR Intents reached, according to the foundation?
NEAR Foundation says NEAR Intents has processed more than $33 billion in all-time volume, with confidential TVL above $160 million.
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What happened in the NEAR Intents exploit?
A flaw in deposit and withdrawal infrastructure led to a $3.8 million exploit. The team said it patched the vulnerability and pledged full compensation.
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How did the exploit affect NEAR Intents users?
Deposits and withdrawals across 11 blockchain networks faced a prolonged disruption following the exploit.
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