Helius CEO Mert Mumtaz has joined the NEAR Foundation Council, the organization announced. He will help direct product strategy, ecosystem growth and governance, with a particular focus on private onchain markets and cross-chain infrastructure.

The NEAR Foundation is a nonprofit organization that supports development of the NEAR Protocol ecosystem. Its council oversees the foundation’s activities and makes key strategic decisions.

Council role and Helius leadership

Other council members include NEAR Protocol co-founder Ilya Polosukhin, Anchorage Digital co-founder Diogo Monica, former NEAR Foundation COO Chris Donovan and NEAR One founder Bowen Wang.

Mumtaz will continue to lead Helius, an infrastructure provider for the Solana blockchain. Its clients include Phantom, Jupiter, Coinbase and Bitwise.

NEAR Intents activity

The NEAR Foundation said Mumtaz was among the first users of NEAR Intents in December 2024. It added that he has repeatedly advocated for greater blockchain interoperability and stronger transaction privacy.

According to the foundation, cumulative transaction volume processed through NEAR Intents has surpassed $33 billion. The value of assets in the associated privacy infrastructure has reached $160 million.

NEAR Protocol previously switched to a mode called Confidential by Default, which hides users’ balances, deposits and transactions by default.

Incrypted co-founder Ivan Pavlovskyi also interviewed Mumtaz on the sidelines of the TOKEN2049 conference. The interview, titled “On Solana’s Weaknesses, Private Money, and AI Hype — An Interview with Helius CEO Mert Mumtaz,” is dated 12.10.2026.

Source: Incrypted