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The Money Desk · Blog
Re:

How NEAR Intents Could Reduce the Need for Centralized Exchanges for Some Crypto Swaps

NEAR Intents is designed to route some supported cross-chain swaps through competing solvers and onchain settlement, but it does not show that centralized exchanges are becoming unnecessary.
From TheFinanceBase Team3 min to read
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Onchain swap tools such as NEAR Intents are designed to let users exchange some assets across supported blockchains without routing every trade through a centralized exchange. That is a narrower claim than saying centralized exchanges are disappearing: these tools do not necessarily provide fiat access, custody choices, or every market and asset a user may need. The headline’s attribution of this view to NEAR co-founder Illia Polosukhin could not be verified from an original interview or reliable transcript, so it should not be treated as a direct quote.

What NEAR Intents does

NEAR describes Intents as a protocol for cross-chain swaps and broader transaction execution. Rather than acting as a conventional exchange interface, it connects a requested transaction with solvers that can propose ways to fulfill it. The protocol’s documentation describes quotes, user selection, and onchain settlement; cross-chain movement also depends on bridging mechanisms and on which assets and networks are supported. NEAR Intents presents it as software infrastructure, not a centralized exchange.

NEAR’s product page displayed “$31B+ all-time volume across 35 chains” when accessed on October 7, 2026. This is a live figure reported by NEAR; the page did not state a publication year or methodology, and the figure may change. It is not an independently audited measure of adoption or evidence that centralized exchanges are losing users. NEAR Intents

How a cross-chain swap works

  1. Request a quote: A user or an app frontend submits the desired swap.
  2. Solvers compete: Solvers evaluate the request and return signed quotes describing how they can fulfill it.
  3. Select a quote: A quote is chosen for the transaction.
  4. Submit and settle: The intent is sent to a verifier contract for onchain settlement. Where assets must move between chains, the transaction relies on supported bridging paths.

That sequence is how NEAR’s documentation describes the system; it does not mean every token or blockchain is available, or that each swap follows an identical route. Supported assets, networks, and bridge mechanisms matter. NEAR Intents overview NEAR market-maker documentation NEAR bridge documentation NEAR swap documentation

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When an onchain swap tool may reduce reliance on an exchange

If the goal is to exchange supported crypto assets across supported chains, a service using competing solver quotes and onchain settlement may let a user complete that transaction without placing the swap through a conventional centralized exchange. NEAR also documents integration routes for applications, so this kind of infrastructure can sit behind an app experience rather than requiring every user to interact with protocol components directly. NEAR integration documentation

That does not make the service a like-for-like replacement for all exchange functions. The available evidence does not establish that NEAR Intents provides fiat on- and off-ramps, the same custody options as a centralized exchange, or equivalent access to every trading market. Nor does it provide a neutral comparison of swap costs, speed, or security against centralized exchanges.

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What to compare before choosing a route

For a particular transaction, compare the actual route and outcome rather than assuming that “onchain” or “centralized” is automatically better. Check:

  • Custody: Who controls the assets during the process, and where will the resulting asset be held?
  • Coverage: Are both the asset and the source and destination networks supported?
  • Quote and costs: What conversion rate is offered, and what fees or slippage affect the amount received?
  • Settlement: Which bridge and settlement path will be used, and how long is the expected transaction likely to take?
  • Access afterward: Can you withdraw, transfer, or otherwise use the resulting asset as intended?

NEAR’s product and technical pages explain its own solver, integration, and settlement design, but they do not supply an independent benchmark for those trade-offs versus centralized exchanges. NEAR Intents overview NEAR market-maker documentation NEAR bridge documentation

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What the Polosukhin attribution does—and does not—establish

The headline’s specific claim that Illia Polosukhin sees a shrinking need for centralized exchanges was not supported by an original interview, transcript, or reliable report reproducing his statement. No direct quote should be attributed to him on the basis of that headline alone. The verifiable point is the more limited one: NEAR Intents is an example of onchain infrastructure intended to handle some cross-chain swaps, which could reduce the need to use a centralized exchange for those transactions.

NEAR’s product materials establish how the company describes its own service, not that centralized exchanges as a category are becoming unnecessary. The available sources do not substantiate a market-wide displacement trend.

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