Investment Thesis on NEAR Intents
NEAR Intents hits $4B in cumulative volume, generating $5.7M in bridging fees alone.
But bridging is small.
- NEAR intents can fill DEX orders.
- They can fill DeFi lending orders.
- They can handle staking.
- This works across Solana, Ethereum, Zcash, L2s, and Bitcoin.
The market is $10 trillion.
NEAR’s intent solver network enables this. Chain signatures make this possible.
Key Thesis:
Can fill all DeFi orders: NEAR intents can be expanded to fill all the DeFi (bridging, DEX, Lending, Staking) orders because these operations just involve swapping 2 tokens. If we lend USDC on Aave, we are getting aUSDC. If we are staking ETH with Lido, we are getting stETH. All this can be filled in the open market.
Superior User Experience: NEAR’s intent-based architecture is superior and faster compared to Circle CCTP/Tether USDT0(message-based). But here’s the real magic of Intents: you can non-custodially swap Bitcoin into ETH in 1.2s with less than a $0.01 compute fee—fast finality and low tx fees. It’s the UX of Web2 with the control of Web3.
Just secure: Intent architecture has less surface area of attack there are no tokens locked in LP pools. It’s a simple system of solver filling user orders, with the risk being shifted from users to solvers in a black swan event.
Unique tech stack position: NEAR has all the tech pieces in place to become the general-purpose intent network compared to any other protocols because of its solver network, chain signatures, and settlement contracts all coming together to make this possible.
Strong Network Effects: Adding chains lets solvers fill more orders with greater capital efficiency, earning higher revenue. Higher volume drives solver profits, growing order sizes—large and small—to achieve economies of scale and serve all users.
What makes intents better than (message-based)Tether USDT0 / Circle CCTP bridges?
Sequential Processing: Each bridge transaction requires a separate cross-chain message, or messages can be batched but must wait for the last message to finalize the transaction.
These architectural limitations create a bottleneck that prevents message-based bridges from matching the intent’s speed, regardless of technological improvements.
Flow of Swapping $ZEC to $USDC to understand NEAR Intents working:
1. Declare Your Intent
The intent specifies ZEC (e.g., 1 ZEC) as source and USDC on a chain (e.g., Ethereum) as target with set slippage tolerance (e.g., 1%). It’s broadcast to the NEAR network via Solver Bus. No funds move yet.
2. Solvers Compete for the Best Route
Bots scan DEXs, pools, and bridges across 20+ chains. They calculate paths, e.g., Zcash → NEAR → USDC. Quotes respond with outputs (e.g., 15.2 USDC after 0.5% fees) based on live liquidity.
3. Review and Approve the Quote
Review output, route, and fees. Sign a message to approve—no deposit or gas required.
4. Deposit and Execution
Deposit ZEC to a temporary secure address. Solver executes atomically via the NEAR Verifier contract. It verifies, trades cross-chain, and settles in seconds to minutes.
5. Receive USDC and Confirm
USDC arrives in the target wallet. Verify via explorers (e.g., Zcash Explorer, Etherscan). Fees only if successful; else, funds return.
This ensures speed, low costs (<$1), and security through contracts, making multi-step swaps seamless.
Many protocols are trying to win this space, Uniswap with UniswapX, CoWSwap, Across, DeBridge, and so on... but NEAR has the full stack tech to become the winner of this $10T market opportunity.
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