Crypto World

NEAR Launches Near.com super app, touting AI capabilities and confidential transactions

Published

5 hours ago

23 February 2026

Near.com super app (Margaux Nijkerk/ CoinDesk)

San Francisco, CA – NEAR is launching Near.com, a new crypto wallet and consumer app that aims to make blockchain technology feel as simple as using a traditional finance app, while positioning itself at the intersection of crypto and artificial intelligence (AI).

Polosukhin previously co-authored the paper that introduced the transformer model, the architecture underpinning modern AI systems like ChatGPT and many other large language models, and has increasingly focused on how blockchain infrastructure can support the next wave of AI-driven applications.

“We are entering the world where AI is becoming our interface to compute,” Polosukhin said during the presentation.

NEAR token is down nearly 3% over the last 24 hours.

At its core, Near.com is designed to remove much of the friction that has long made crypto confusing for everyday users. Instead of worrying about gas fees, private keys or switching between different blockchains, users can manage their assets in one place.

“You don’t need to think about blockchains. You don’t need to think about gas, keys,” Polosukhin said. “You just use it as your main wallet.”

Near.com supports a range of digital assets, including bitcoin, stablecoins, NFTs and other tokens. The idea is to bring together activity that is typically spread across multiple wallets and networks into a single, streamlined interface.

But NEAR’s ambitions extend beyond building just another wallet. The company is betting that the next big wave in crypto will come from its convergence with AI.

As AI agents become more capable, like booking travel, managing emails or handling online purchases, they will increasingly need the ability to transact. That’s where crypto infrastructure comes in. Blockchains can provide programmable payments, global transfers and automated settlement without relying on traditional intermediaries.

Polosukhin argued that as AI systems begin interacting with each other, they effectively become “economic actors,” software programs that negotiate, pay and coordinate tasks. In that world, crypto becomes the financial layer that allows these agents to operate.

Near.com is designed to serve as that layer, acting as both a user-friendly wallet for people and an economic backend for AI-driven activity.

A key part of the announcement is privacy. One of blockchain’s longstanding tradeoffs is transparency: transactions are typically visible to anyone. While that openness can build trust, it can also expose sensitive financial information.

“Everything you do onchain is transparent,” Polosukhin said. “That’s not realistic for usual use cases, for day-to-day usage.”

To address this, NEAR introduced a “confidential mode” within Near.com. The feature allows balances, transfers and trading activity to remain private within the network’s security framework. The company says this makes the wallet more practical not only for individuals and businesses, but also for AI agents that may need to transact without revealing strategy or sensitive data.

The launch signals a broader shift for NEAR.

“We have the stack. We have all the components. We have the product,” Polosukhin said. “Now we’re switching … to how we actually scale adoption — how we bring this to billions of people around the world.”

Read more: Most Influential: Sam Altman

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Crypto World

Saylor Says Quantum Risk to Bitcoin is distant and Manageable

Published

9 minutes ago

24 February 2026

NewsAdmin

Ethereum, Vitalik Buterin, MicroStrategy, Quantum Computing, Michael Saylor

Strategy CEO Michael Saylor dismissed concerns about quantum computing during an appearance on Natalie Brunell’s Coin Stories podcast, saying the cybersecurity community broadly agrees that any credible quantum threat is likely more than a decade away.

While it remains unclear if or when a quantum risk might materialize, Saylor told the podcast host that any credible breakthrough would prompt coordinated software upgrades across global banking systems, internet infrastructure, consumer devices, artificial intelligence networks and crypto protocols, including Bitcoin (BTC).

Saylor said the digital systems underpinning modern digital infrastructure would eventually adopt post-quantum-resistant cryptography if necessary, adding that such a shift would not come as a surprise.

“You’ll see it coming. We’ll all see it coming,” he said, adding that Bitcoin’s software is designed to change over time, with nodes, hardware, and wallets capable of upgrading in response to emerging threats.

In his view, global consensus on how to respond would emerge only if a credible threat develops, noting that governments, technology companies and financial institutions would all face the same risk to their digital systems.

He also described the crypto sector as the “most sophisticated cybersecurity community,” pointing to the multi-factor authentication and hardware key protections commonly used to secure digital assets.

In his view, the procedures required to move Bitcoin are significantly more rigorous than the security standards used for traditional bank wires or stock trading systems. Saylor said:

“I think the crypto community will be the first to perceive the threat, and to react to the threat, and they’ll be leading the way.”

Quantum computing is an emerging field of computation that uses quantum mechanics to process information far faster than classical computers, prompting concerns that advanced machines could eventually break the cryptography securing Bitcoin and other digital assets.

Saylor’s Strategy is the largest Bitcoin treasury company in the world. On Monday, the Tysons Corner, Virginia-based company announced it had purchased 592 Bitcoin for roughly $39.8 million last week, its 100th acquisition since adopting a Bitcoin treasury strategy in August 2020.

It currently holds 717,722 BTC, acquired for about $54.56 billion at an average price of $67,286 per coin.

The ongoing quantum debate in crypto

While Michael Saylor, one of Bitcoin’s most prominent advocates, has downplayed the risks posed by quantum computing, others in the crypto industry appear more worried about the threat.

One of them is Ethereum (ETH) co-founder Vitalik Buterin, who in late 2025 cited Metaculus, a forecasting platform, that suggested around a 20% chance that quantum computers capable of breaking current cryptography could emerge before 2030, with a median estimate around 2040.

Speaking months later at Devconnect in Buenos Aires, he warned that elliptic curve cryptography, which underpins Ethereum and Bitcoin, could fail before the 2028 US presidential election and urged a transition to quantum-resistant systems within the next four years.

The Ethereum Foundation has incorporated post-quantum preparedness into its 2026 security roadmap, with researcher Justin Drake announcing on Jan. 24 that a dedicated Post-Quantum team had been formed, describing the move as a turning point in the foundation’s long-term quantum strategy.

The quantum threat has even caused some to speculate its the reason behind the Bitcoin’s recent price decline, which has fallen from highs of over $126,000 in October to its current price of around $64,000.

In January, Castle Island Ventures partner Nic Carter said Bitcoin’s “mysterious” underperformance could be attributed to quantum risk concerns, saying that markets were reacting even if developers were not.

That view drew pushback, with Glassnode analyst James Check writing that quantum computing plans should be put in place, but the threat is not the “primary reason” behind the decline in price.