Helius CEO Mert Mumtaz joins NEAR Foundation Council, signaling cross-chain ecosystem collaboration.
Regulation & Gov ·
Mert Mumtaz, CEO of Helius, has been appointed to the NEAR Foundation Council, the governing body overseeing the Foundation and its major decisions. Mumtaz, who leads Solana infrastructure serving platforms like Phantom, Jupiter, and Coinbase, brings technical expertise and a recognized perspective on crypto privacy, particularly around shielded payments and encrypted transactions.
The appointment reflects overlapping interests between two major layer-one ecosystems. Mumtaz has been an early adopter of NEAR Intents, which has processed over $33 billion in all-time volume and now holds more than $160 million in confidential TVL. His infrastructure company, Helius, has already connected NEAR and Zcash assets to Solana through a platform called Orb, where ZEC ranks among the top three assets by volume. He has publicly characterized NEAR as foundational infrastructure for connecting liquidity across multiple chains.
On the Council, Mumtaz will contribute to decisions around product development and go-to-market strategy. The appointment follows his stated belief that distinct crypto ecosystems—Solana, Zcash, and NEAR among them—must collaborate rather than operate in isolation. What remains to be seen is how this cross-chain advisory role will shape NEAR Foundation's tactical priorities and whether it accelerates interoperability efforts already underway.