NEAR Protocol Launches NEAR AI Cloud and Private Chat With Verifiable Privacy

• NEAR Foundation launched NEAR AI Cloud and Private Chat to bring verifiable, hardware-backed privacy to AI applications.
• Brave, OpenMind AGI, and Phala Network integrated the tools, expanding NEAR’s confidential AI reach to more than 100 million users.

NEAR Foundation has launched NEAR AI Cloud and Private Chat, two linked products designed to bring verifiable privacy to AI usage. The tools are already active within Brave Nightly, OpenMind AGI, and Phala Network suites, placing the technology in front of more than 100 million users. 

According to NEAR Foundation, both products operate on the principle that users should own their interactions with AI. They rely on hardware-backed protections and cryptographic verification, offering privacy assurances that differ from mainstream AI systems that run on centralized data models.

NEAR AI Expands User-Controlled Intelligence

Additionally, Near noted that its AI Cloud processes every request through Intel TDX and NVIDIA Confidential Computing chips, which act as trusted execution environments to isolate sensitive inputs. Every interaction can be verified by a cryptographic attestation confirming that the model executed in a protected environment. As a result, users gain transparency into how their data is handled during AI queries.

Private Chat builds on the same infrastructure. It functions like a major AI assistant but removes the data-harvesting component typically tied to centralized providers. According to the announcement, the application is designed to facilitate daily research and ensure that user data is not disclosed to operators or third parties.

Brave’s integration on Nov. 20 marked one of the most visible implementations, and additional adoption from OpenMind AGI and Phala Network broadened the reach of the technology. The foundation argues that the early partnerships demonstrate the system’s readiness, given that the workloads involved sensitive queries and large-scale traffic.

Market Conditions Challenge Short-Term Momentum

The technical progress arrives as its token trades near multi-month lows. The token broke under the $1.80 range after a long time of decline and heavy selling volume. The price had previously held at the level for several months before slipping further. The resistance in the $3.00-$3.60 range has served as a constant ceiling for analysts, redirecting many attempts at recovery in 2024 and 2025.

Momentum now depends on whether the token can reclaim $1.80 and advance toward $1.95, a zone that historically supported continuation during prior rebounds. According to the analyst, ‘Break through $1.80 & $1.95 and then we should be good to go upwards from here.” The breakdown from the $2.20 to $2.40 range in November intensified the decline, and large-volume sessions around the $2.00 breach suggested heavy supply pressure.

Network Activity Builds Under the Surface

The fundamentals continue to advance despite near-term market weakness. NEAR Intents, the project’s cross-chain automation system, has generated over $7 billion in lifetime volume with more than 12 million swaps and $11.68 million in fees. Unique addresses surged past 800,000 in the past 30 days, according to Dune Analytics data.

Interest also increased after the U.S. prediction market Kalshi added NEAR support on November 25. Additionally, validators voted to reduce inflation on October 28, lowering the tail emission rate from 5% to 2.5%.