The Block reported on 15 October 2026 that the NEAR Foundation Council has appointed Mert Mumtaz, CEO of Solana infrastructure firm Helius, to its governing body, citing a foundation statement shared with the outlet.
This is reported appointment news via The Block. Volume and exploit figures below keep their original attributions.
Role and fellow council members
According to The Block’s account of the statement, Mumtaz will help guide product strategy, ecosystem growth and governance as NEAR expands its private onchain market vision. He will also judge the NEAR Hackathon running 1–14 November.
The Block says Council members include NEAR co-founder Illia Polosukhin, Anchorage Digital co-founder Diogo Mónica, former NEAR Foundation COO Chris Donovan, and NEAR One founder Bowen Wang.
Polosukhin, quoted by The Block and also posted by NEAR Protocol on X (verified), said: “Mert’s conviction, technical depth, and direct approach will be a great asset for the NEAR Foundation Council as we work to bring private assets and markets to every chain.”
Who Mumtaz is
The Block describes Mumtaz as leading Helius, which builds Solana infrastructure used by teams including Phantom, Jupiter, Coinbase and Bitwise — RPC nodes, data streaming, transaction delivery and validators. He was an early NEAR Intents user; NEAR says he called the protocol “the market of markets” before most of the industry caught on.
A Solana infra CEO joining NEAR’s council is a cross-ecosystem signal: Intents and private markets are meant to sit across chains, not only inside NEAR’s L1.
Foundation claims versus The Block’s exploit report
According to the foundation (as carried by The Block), NEAR Intents has processed more than $33 billion in all-time volume, with confidential TVL now above $160 million. Treat those as foundation claims.
Separately, The Block reports that earlier this month NEAR Intents suffered a $3.8 million exploit after a flaw in its deposit and withdrawal infrastructure; the team said it had patched the vulnerability and pledged full compensation, though deposits and withdrawals across 11 blockchain networks faced a prolonged disruption. Credit that exploit figure and narrative to The Block — this post does not independently verify it against a primary incident report.
For broader Q3 hack-cost context (different stories), see Hacken’s Q3 2026 crypto hack tally. On Solana’s own roadmap timing, see Alpenglow.
Why it matters
NEAR is pitching private assets and markets “to every chain.” Putting a high-profile Solana infra founder on the Foundation Council is governance colour for that pitch — especially while Intents volume claims and a recent exploit report sit in the same news cycle. Readers should keep the appointment (foundation statement via The Block), the Intents metrics (foundation), and the $3.8m incident (The Block) on separate attribution shelves.
What’s still unknown
- How much formal voting or budget authority Council seats carry day to day
- Independent confirmation of the $3.8m figure and compensation status
- Whether Helius–NEAR product integrations follow the appointment
What this means
- Mumtaz joins NEAR Foundation Council (The Block / foundation statement).
- Role: product strategy, ecosystem growth, governance; hackathon judge 1–14 Nov.
- >$33bn Intents volume / >$160m confidential TVL = foundation claims.
- $3.8m Intents exploit = The Block’s report.
Sources
- The Block / Brian Danga, “Helius CEO Mert Mumtaz joins NEAR Foundation Council”, 15 October 2026
- NEAR Protocol on X (Polosukhin quote), 15 October 2026
Related stories
- Solana Sets 21 October for Alpenglow, Aiming to Finalise Transactions in About 150ms
- Hacken Says Crypto Hacks Cost $1.18 Billion in Q3 2026
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