Near Protocol Lands Tokenized US Stocks Partnership Amid Privacy Push

Near Protocol is making significant moves this week, with three major developments that highlight its focus on real-world asset access and privacy. One of the key announcements comes from a partnership between Near.com and Ondo Finance, which allows users to buy, trade, and hold tokenized US stocks and ETFs through a single account without needing a separate brokerage account.

The integration brings 20 initial tokenized assets, including Tesla, Nvidia, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, and ETFs like QQQ, SLV, and IAU. This move directly leverages confidential execution as a selling point, tying real-world asset access to the same privacy infrastructure that Near Protocol's co-founder has described.

MyNearWallet users have until October 31 to migrate their staking setup, as the wallet will officially sunset on this date. Anyone currently staking NEAR through Everstake using MyNearWallet needs to switch to either Meteor Wallet or near.com before then to keep managing their staking through a supported wallet.

Near Protocol's co-founder, Illia Polosukhin, has also made the case that privacy is the missing piece holding back everyday blockchain use. He argues that fully public blockchains leak too much information for things like payroll, active trading, or daily spending, and that's exactly the gap technologies like Near's Confidential Intents and Zcash are now closing.