NEAR Founder: Fewer Reasons to Need a Centralized Exchange
NEAR's co-founder says users no longer need centralized exchanges for much of their activity. The fiat edge and a recent exploit complicate the claim.
Centralized exchanges are losing default status for routine onchain activity, but not at the fiat edge. Illia Polosukhin, NEAR's co-founder, told The Block users no longer need them for "a lot" of things. Yet NEAR still relies on Monerium for euro conversion, and bank withdrawals remain a roadmap item, not a shipped feature.
The Ledger Desk · 3 min read- Illia Polosukhin told The Block that "for a lot of things now, you don't need" a centralized exchange; this is a founder's claim about his own product, not an independent finding.
- According to The Block, near.com offers spot trading across chains, tokenized stocks, yield products and perpetual futures in one interface.
- Fiat access is the reported dependency: Monerium handles euro conversion via IBAN, while bank withdrawals and tax-compliant transaction records are described as planned.
- The Block reported that NEAR Intents suffered a $3.8 million exploit on October 1, 2026, and later reported services restored and funds returned.
- Ledger analysis: unbundling an exchange moves risk to infrastructure such as deposit and withdrawal contracts, which compliance teams should map separately.
NEAR co-founder Illia Polosukhin told The Block on October 7, 2026 that for a lot of things now, users do not need a centralized exchange. The claim is a founder's, made about his own product. It still marks where exchange functions are being unbundled, and which pieces of the venue model, chiefly fiat access, remain hard to replace.
What near.com offers
According to The Block, near.com provides spot trading across chains, tokenized stocks, yield products and perpetual futures in a single interface. The tokenized stocks arrived through an Ondo Finance integration in September, with Nvidia cited as an example. That menu resembles a centralized exchange's core offering. The Ledger's reading is that the difference lies in custody and routing rather than product range, though the interview does not detail those mechanics.
The fiat edge remains the constraint
The Block reports that Monerium facilitates conversion between euro bank accounts and EURe via IBAN, and that near.com plans more currency conversions, bank withdrawals and tax-compliant transaction records. Because those items are described as planned, a user still has to reach the system through a regulated counterparty. The Ledger's analysis is that this keeps a point of compliance control in place until the features ship.
The October 1 exploit
The Block reported on October 1, 2026 that NEAR Intents halted services after a $3.8 million exploit and promised full compensation. The October 7 interview report says the exploit hit Omni deposit and withdrawal infrastructure, that services were restored after patching, and that funds were eventually returned. The Ledger has not seen an independent post-mortem, so the technical cause remains as described by the project.
What this means for compliance teams
This is Ledger analysis, not a finding from the sources: if activity once concentrated at one supervised venue spreads across protocol-level routing, deposit contracts and fiat on-ramps become the practical places to look for controls. Teams should track whether the planned tax records and bank withdrawals actually ship, since those features would determine how traceable such trading is for regulators and auditors.
- What did Illia Polosukhin say about centralized exchanges?
- He told The Block that for a lot of things now, users do not need a centralized exchange, pointing to the products offered on near.com. It is his own assessment of his own platform.
- Does NEAR still depend on traditional finance partners?
- According to The Block, yes. Monerium facilitates conversion between euro bank accounts and EURe via IBAN. Bank withdrawals, tax-compliant records and additional currency conversions are listed as planned, not delivered.
- Was there a security incident at NEAR Intents?
- The Block reported on October 1, 2026 that NEAR Intents halted services after a $3.8 million exploit and promised full compensation. Its October 7 report says services were restored after patching and funds were returned.