NEAR is making a specific wager: that the future of crypto is autonomous AI agents transacting at machine speed, and that they will need a blockchain built to handle them. A June upgrade is the centerpiece. Here is the thesis, the technology, and the one number that complicates it.
Summary
- NEAR is betting that AI agents will need a blockchain built for machine-speed transactions.
- Dynamic resharding is the June upgrade designed to scale capacity automatically.
- NEAR Intents gives agents a way to settle activity across multiple chains.
- The thesis is coherent, but falling active users show the agent economy has not arrived yet.
NEAR Protocol has spent 2026 rebuilding…
