It seems that NEAR has started proposing a new form of cross-chain transactions. Last month, they released a privacy execution layer called Confidential Intents, which is quite interesting.

The "transparency" of blockchain is actually a double-edged sword. When making large trades in DeFi, your intentions become fully visible on the chain. As a result, MEV bots can detect this and insert their own transactions before and after yours, ultimately extracting fees. Some call this the "transparency tax," but in reality, high-volume traders and institutional investors often suffer significant losses because of it.

NEAR's approach is based on the concept of "intent." Users only need to specify their goal, such as "swap 10 ETH for USDC," and the protocol handles the technical steps. These processes are executed within a private shard environment, protecting the transaction details from being exposed until they are finalized.

Technically, NEAR combines private shards with trusted execution environments (TEEs). User transaction instructions are encrypted locally before being sent to the network. Validators can verify only the mathematical validity of the transactions within a "black box" that does not reveal actual amounts or routes. This addresses the traditional issue of lack of privacy on public blockchains, and this new feature aims to solve that.

It also offers an effective countermeasure against front-running. Large swaps usually signal the market, prompting arbitrageurs to react. But if transactions are executed in a private environment, that signal is effectively neutralized. This could lead to better execution prices and lower slippage.

What’s interesting is that both individual traders and institutional investors stand to benefit. Individuals can prevent their trading patterns from being tracked or mimicked by others. Institutions can enjoy privacy comparable to dark pools while leveraging blockchain settlement efficiency.

The solution also considers regulatory compliance. Users can provide audit-proof evidence to auditors or regulators without revealing their entire trading history. This makes it possible to balance privacy with compliance.

Going forward, DeFi is likely to shift from simple asset transfers to complex multi-step financial intents. NEAR aims to position itself as a key execution hub by combining the speed of sharding with the security of privacy computations. Currently, NEAR’s price is $1.42, and how this technological advancement will be valued depends on future market developments.