Helius CEO Mert Mumtaz joins NEAR Foundation Council
Regulation & Gov ·
NEAR Foundation has appointed the Helius chief executive to its council as the network's intents infrastructure crosses a new volume milestone.
The NEAR Foundation has named Mert Mumtaz, chief executive of Helius, to its council, according to The Block. The appointment places a Solana-focused infrastructure executive inside the governance body of a separate layer-1 network, a cross-ecosystem move that multiple outlets picked up in parallel coverage.
The council role comes as NEAR Intents, the network's intents-based execution system, reached $33 billion in all-time volume, a figure cited alongside the appointment news. Intents systems let users and applications specify a desired outcome rather than a specific transaction path, with solvers competing to fulfill the request; growth in cumulative volume on that system is being pointed to as a marker of adoption for NEAR's infrastructure.
Four distinct sources covered the appointment, underscoring that it registered as a notable governance update rather than a routine personnel note. The addition of a Helius executive, whose company builds developer and data infrastructure on Solana, to NEAR's council suggests the foundation is drawing on expertise from outside its native ecosystem as it shapes its governance and technical direction.
What remains unclear from current reporting is the scope of Mumtaz's responsibilities on the council, the term length of the appointment, and whether it signals any operational or technical collaboration between Helius and NEAR beyond the governance seat. It is also not specified whether other new members joined the council alongside Mumtaz or what prompted the timing relative to the $33 billion intents volume figure. Further detail from NEAR Foundation or Helius would clarify whether this is a standalone governance appointment or part of a broader cross-chain initiative.