NEAR token rises 17% as "Confidential Intents" feature goes live

NEAR token surged by 17%, extending its weekly gains to around 40%, following the launch of the "Confidential Intents" feature on the NEAR network. This private execution layer connects the mainnet with confidential shards to process transactions, allowing users to switch to privacy accounts to reduce frontrunning, sandwich attacks, and other forms of MEV. Market reactions indicate that investors expect this privacy and compliance system to attract institutional trading flows into NEAR, although current base layer fee revenue remains limited compared to its 1.8 billions USD market capitalization.