The NEAR Foundation has appointed Mert Mumtaz, CEO of Helius, to its Council, the oversight body that approves the foundation’s most consequential decisions. Helius is a Solana infrastructure firm providing RPC services and has raised $9.5 million in a Series A funding round while acquiring Light Protocol to enhance its privacy features. Mert Mumtaz, a vocal advocate for Solana, has nonetheless publicly praised NEAR’s technical team and helped enable integrations bringing NEAR into the Solana ecosystem through products such as Orb Markets. This appointment highlights the growing cross-chain ties between the two ecosystems, though it also raises questions about managing potential conflicts of interest between his oversight role at NEAR and his position at a company deeply tied to Solana.
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