The NEAR Protocol blockchain has switched to a default privacy mode. Co-founder Ilya Polosukhin announced an important update. User balances and deposits are now automatically hidden. Exchanges, yields, and regular payments have also been concealed. The main operating mode has become the Confidential Intents system. This feature was introduced in February 2026 and became publicly available in July.
The Confidential Intents system represents a private segment. It connects to the main network through a secure bridge. This mechanism hides transaction parameters from the public queue. Users receive reliable protection against front-running transactions. The network also prevents various attacks on value. At the same time, there remains the possibility of selective disclosure of operations. Regulators or counterparties will gain access to the data when necessary. The execution environment is serviced by a decentralized set of independent validators.
Matt Henderson, head of products at Aurora Labs, clarified the details. The confidential account is now the standard option. It is not possible to switch back to the previous mode. The feature for adding multiple access keys is in development. Users will be able to deposit into old addresses. Such assets will simply receive a special designation of deprecated funds. The network uses a trusted execution environment instead of cryptographic proofs. The user experience has essentially remained the same.
The new mechanism operates on top of the NEAR Intents abstraction system. Exchanges are executed by liquidity providers to find the best price. Key information is not displayed in the queue until the transaction is completed. Confidential operations accounted for 42 percent of trading volume in July. The main reason for the transition was the high activity of network bots. The team clearly distinguishes the new mechanism from regular mixers. Regulators will be able to access the data upon official request. This is a key difference from fully anonymous networks.