Protect this Ecosystem #3: Holiday Livestream + 2026 Predictions

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1. 0:02

   What's up, folks? We are live. Got some of the crew coming in. We're going to put them up on stage and uh actually have quite a few fun things to talk about today. So, I'm going to share screen and sparkler potato is killing me.

2. 0:27

   We can get into this. So, all right. All right. Can you guys uh Yeah, we could see this. Let's go. Well, I guess first off, happy holidays everybody. And um just for reference for Legion people who are watching, uh Monza, if you maybe want to talk a little bit about what the whole what's what's the deal with the crates that um that we got for the near eco and then I can actually get individualized for for how we're going to use some of that

3. 0:58

   stuff. So yeah, for sure. I guess we can start there. I'm a little sick, so I'll do my best and might might need a couple water breaks here. Um, but yeah, Infinix, so sure everyone knows that we've got some some integrations with them in their intents and switching and and other things like that. And uh they've [snorts] had a couple things go live recently on their end with um switching and crates. So, uh, if you switched in the past, I'm not sure if there are

4. 1:30

   crates there yet, but they're working on that, I think, now. Um, but yeah, Swagging is live. If you switch, you are eligible to earn crates. And then with that integration, they also gave us uh near like 500 crates to give away to the community basically, however uh we wanted to and best uh best saw fit. So figured the best way to do that was through uh through the Legion. Yeah, that's the it's exactly what we uh is for. So just before we get into our predictions

5. 2:04

   for the year with everybody, if you have an ascendant SBT, you will be getting one crate as an as an ascendant um that we'll be sending your way. If you have a Vanguard SPT, you will be getting three crates. Um, if you're an event host, which we're going to talk about in the coming uh couple of slides here for the look ahead for 2026, you'll be getting three crates as an event host. And if you're a squad leader, we'll be sending three crates

6. 2:37

   your way. So, be on the lookout for this. Uh, Tat is actually on on hand. We got him live here, the one and only to uh he'll be in touch. And um we want to make sure that the Legion participants are, you know, actively rewarded for uh contributing even though it's still early on near and even though we're in the early days. Um we'll write this up.

7. 2:59

   We'll put this in the Legion chat and you can uh follow up with us about uh you know getting that crate and hopefully I think one of the crates had a pretty big prize in them. I don't know, Monza. Uh what what maybe we could go through what the the biggest prizes are, what some of those crates include.

8. 3:15

   Yeah, let me uh let me pull those back up on on mix real quick and then I'll I'll run through them. I know there's a there's a million dollar crate. I don't know if anyone's won it uh already or not, but I think it was like 2.5 million total in uh in prizes in the crates along with just like tickets to events and and other things like that. So, yep. Pudgy. There's some pudgies.

9. 3:38

   There's some there's some pretty quality prizes. So, if you got your rank, we'll get a crate over to you. Um, we'll have some extra action in the Legion Treasury for other events and opportunities that emerge. Future Ascendants for the month of January, future Vanguards for the month of January. So, definitely come stick around and uh um, you know, claim your crate and hopefully you guys are the lucky ones. Who knows who knows what we'll get. So, um, with that, let's kick it off. We got a number of predictions

10. 4:06

    to go through. This is the holiday stream, so most people are probably just hanging out with their families. Uh it's December 30th. We got two days left in 2025 and then the year ahead has a lot of promise and a lot of opportunity. I think if you're on crypto Twitter, you'll you'll be feeling that these days. Now, before we do that, and anyone else who's on live, feel free to just

11. 4:29

    comment in. There's been some pretty cool, you know, developments on Near. Mir's always been a team that ships from the very beginning um back to when they had no shards and now they have 10 shards and with their vision of the account model and so forth. This is a look back just in 2025 everything that happens. Near intense went to close to8 billion in alltime volume. Two AI products launched and went live. We're working to get you guys some more updates and data on the success of those

12. 5:00

    products because there is a pipeline associated with them that hasn't been shared yet. The shade agent framework after a lot of work uh got you know uh fixed up and ready for prime time and we're hoping to see more shade agents this year. Call went live I sure as you all know with uh varying opinions on some of the things that might have launched and then you know we had some good uh I would say long-term buildouts for near so uh the house of stake

13. 5:28

    launched that's growing there's actually quite a bit of vear delegated to certain members notably slime of them uh we all know slime the Harvard Business Review got published featuring Elia's story of creating near which is actually a really critical piece of um I think cred for what Near is all about and how consistent Elia has been all along. And as you all know, the Near Legion launched and has been growing pretty nicely. So, we're we're pretty happy with with how 2025 ended, but there's a lot of questions about 2026.

14. 6:02

    And this is where I kind of want to open the floor up as we get into 2026. We don't have to get into the the details of of the growth for Legion. Um 2026 is when we're going to tell the world about Near. And there's a lot of different ways we're going to do this. It'll be an iterative process. It'll hopefully correspond with the new products that are coming out in a way that we're not

15. 6:24

    just selling, but we're actually getting people to understand the vision of how intense, how a sharded chain, how abstracted chain, and how AI fits together to provide a very unique uh technology stack that will in our eyes, I think, change the world. So, we're starting to tell the world by uh kicking off 10 events per month compounding. As I mentioned before, these event hosts, you guys will get crates, you guys are future GMs of city nodes around the

16. 6:55

    world for the near legion as we grow this up. And January will be the very, very beginning of this buildout process. There is an events form that we'll link for everybody. If you want to host an event, we'll get in touch. And we're actually really looking forward to scaling up the IRL presence of the near community in 2026. It starts here. It will hopefully grow to many of the

17. 7:17

    cities and countries that you guys see on the Legion map. Um, which is quite proliferated right now. I think there's like 2,000 members who are mapped for the Legion. That's what I'm excited about. Now, I want to hear from everyone here and I want to hear from the chat on what you guys think about some predictions for 2026 that we've that we have coming up. So, um, we'll we got a couple of questions here. I would love

18. 7:41

    for everybody in in the uh in the who's on stage at least to share their yes or no. And if you're in the chat, we will be tracking this as well. So feel free to share with us also separately your predictions and we'll follow up and and reward the people who are actually most accurate. It's going to be hard to be accurate because there's a lot going on.

19. 8:03

    So, question one, we're at I don't know if someone wants to pull up Dune. We're at around 8 billion in uh alltime volume for Near Intense in 2025. We went from 0 to 8 billion. Will Near Intense break 20 billion in alltime volume when we do this exact stream in 2026? Euben, why don't you kick us off? Yes.

20. 8:26

    No, and why? So, currently we are at 8 billion. I will for sure say yes because 8 billion was at the start. We have more and more integrations, more and more chains coming in. So I think 20 billion is still even lower than what we should expect. 30 40 50 million like we should start doing milestone parties for 2026.

21. 8:46

    All right. Bullish. Nice. Monza, your your prediction. Yeah, I I think 20 million or 20 million is pretty pretty easy there. we saw volume kind of slow down a little bit around the holidays and then just with you know volume all around crypto down and vibes down and everything but started to started to pick back up so I think uh I think doing 20 billion should should be no problem for us like you even said with everything else uh that we have coming most of which I can't talk about two yeses potato

22. 9:19

    feel free to yeah easy yes uh I think 20 billion is pretty conservative uh my rationale here is uh I I don't know I can't recall the exact timelines but it took us about four months to hit the first 1 billion in trading volume and like each subsequent 1 billion has been shorter if even like we keep up with the same pace with the previous uh billions we've hit 20 billion should be easy um to hit like

23. 9:49

    in 2026 I think it's pretty conservative but yeah easy yes and and just for reference As we go through these, you don't have to provide an explanation if you don't want to. You can always just say yes or no if you you know if you just want to keep it as you as you like. But I like the explanation.

24. 10:05

    So Ryan, go for it. 100 billion. That's your prediction. That's my prediction. Awesome. 100 billion alltime volume. I cannot wait to clip this. And I think Oh, there. Yep. There you go. You got uh someone else who's with you as well. So bullish team is we're feeling bullish.

25. 10:27

    We haven't even talked about what the the the value and fees of a 100red billion in alltime volume looks like in 2026. So tat yes or no. Will it break 20 billion in alltime volume? I mean it depends. Is it end of 2026 or the start? So you're talking about the end does the stream the end of the year.

26. 10:44

    Okay then. Yeah. 100%. 20 bill. Easy. Wow. All right. We got a bullish chat. People are saying 100 bill. All right. That was question one. Everyone said yes. We have no bears in the chat. People are confident. People think this is too conservative that this should go to 100 bill. We'll we'll see. We'll see who's right and we'll we'll follow up from that. So, all right. Question two.

27. 11:04

    And this one might be a little trickier because we might need to clarify what what actually is considered a a product and what's considered an add-on. So, right now there are two near AAI products live. That would be private chat and private cloud.

28. 11:22

    The question here is, will we see two new further AI products that launch in 2026 on the AI stack? So that could be DCML, it could be things like fine-tuning, it could be things like memory, it could be a whole host of different things that the team might be cooking up. You thoughts will near launch two or more new AI products in 2026?

29. 11:48

    Minimum 10. No, like we got the Harvard paper. Like we got to go even harder in AI in 2026. Minimum 10. I was going to say I don't know. I don't know what the AI team would think about that, but um you do at least think that there will be two or more new ones.

30. 12:06

    For sure. There will be more than two in my opinion. What What two Give us at least two that you would like to see that you think would be interesting or valuable. Currently, I saw one with ticketing if I'm not mistaken. uh I'm not sure which team did it. So something to something related to how we engage with our daily lives. Some a product or AI that can help us. Uh and the second one I really want to see something related to intense

31. 12:31

    as well. So maybe like hey I want to do a crosschain swap to any chain and then that AI will just do it for me without having me to like think about all the different processes and procedures. And and to be fair this actually might include um this might include like shade agents as well. an autonomous shade agent that's designed to do some type of transaction on intense would count as one of these two products. So fair.

32. 12:54

    Okay. Euin says yes over two. Monza and I I will say I demand complete honesty on this. So you guys have to be I we will hold people accountable for their predictions and um there you know this is not just like a a hype train. You guys got to be honest about what's coming and um it's for everyone's benefit to be honest. So Monza, your thoughts? Will we get to two more four total in 2026?

33. 13:19

    I'll say hell yes and I'll leave it at that. Great. Potato, your thoughts. I am bit skeptical. Not on the AI um on the AI vision, but I think instead of having more products, I'm pretty bullish on DCML. I think that gets shipped early in 2026. seen a bunch of um bull posts around it. So I definitely think DCML is happening early next year. Whether we get a second one or not, I'm not very

34. 13:53

    convinced. But also because I don't have uh that much visibility into it. I do however think there'll be a lot of stuff built on top of like private chat, private cloud. Whether you count those as new products or not is is a bit in the gray area because you're building on top of an existing product. But if if if we do count those then definitely more than two. If it's a completely new thing

35. 14:18

    then maybe DCML. Yes. But I'm not sure if something else is coming. Okay. Fair take. Rhyme honesty only. Sir, why why would you think I would be anything but honest? Um, I think you had a had a way hotter take than the hundred billion though. Um, as far as as far as AI products with the contingency of shade agents being one of those uh milestones, I feel like that is fairly inevitable that there will be some kind

36. 14:53

    of um a multitude of shade agents that come out of uh 2026. But what I would really like to see come out of those shade agents is a more usable uh experience and making it and closing that gap between what it is to build the shade agent and for anyone to be able to use the shade agent because I think if we're just continuing to rely on them to be built um we're gonna we're going or

37. 15:23

    I'm excuse me if we're continuing to rely on them um to be built only by the user and the small cohort of people that are building them, then I think that uh we're going to be missing a huge opportunity for people to actually use them outside of the developer kit.

38. 15:40

    All right. So, yes, yes or no on your will near launch too. Over under uh we're we're over we're over two. That's my honesty. You guys minus uh potato, you guys are all pretty bullish. Uh Tad. Okay. Is it near the ecosystem or is it near team like near AI team?

39. 16:00

    Near AI team would near AI team or affiliate near ecosystem teams. I would say then yeah okay then yes too but I don't think way more than that two like right on the line too. That's that's why we put it at two by the way. So smart smart take. All right next one.

40. 16:21

    Will the intense fees buyback switch turn on in 2026? Yes or no? This is a hard one because it's largely outside of everyone's control. There's a lot of different variables. If you want to be hopeful, I would say you go over. If you want to be pessimistic, maybe some might even say realistic, you might want to go under.

41. 16:42

    What are our thoughts on on this? You I'll go with yes because like we have 8 billion volume. If we don't turn on the fees, I think more and more the communities will like just bringing the pitch fox and ask like get this over get this on we want this on we want near buybacks we want near burns and we'll see more and more people inside legion chair as well as near discord because like we already are seeing this in near

42. 17:06

    discord when are the buyback coming on when is it coming in and I'm just telling them soon soon and just soon so so your answer is it needs to it needs to turn on. Okay, fair. Monza, Monza, your take. Can my answer be I hope so. Yep, that's that's a fair take as well.

43. 17:26

    I think it's it's a fair reflection of statement. Um, potato. Yeah, I I think it's not going to turn on anytime soon, but if the timeline is the whole of 2026, I think at some point in 2026, we should figure out a buyback mechanism whether like whatever that mechanism is, whether we are staking it or whatever. Uh but I I think maybe not in the first half of 26.

44. 17:52

    Yeah, fair. Okay, interesting. Uh again, great honest take. I love that rhyme. Uh will do you think there's a chance that this turns on or do you think for whatever reason uh we wait a little longer? Potato over here giving a a funeral to our bags.

45. 18:11

    RIP over here. But I I mean I was under the impression that it was inevitable. So I I haven't heard or seen that that has has changed. Um so I wouldn't see why not. Um but yeah, I'm kind of in Euan's sentiment there. Like I it needs to.

46. 18:31

    Good. Okay. Tat, round us up. It needs to, but it's not going to happen. That's what I think. Oh, all right. Tat take I think uh Cryptoblack said that as well. So we'll see. We'll we'll do this review and we'll we'll come back in 2026, but it's good to hedge. So, all right, Legion growth question. Uh we're at 3700 3600 right now. Will the Legion grow to over 10,000 in 2026? We

47. 19:02

    intentionally put that number because as we put with the others, we're trying to put the line right where it's really hard to get it spot on. Do we 3x the Legion to 10,000 next year at this time in terms of members in the Telegram chat or mapped members or do we fall below that number? Euan, your thoughts?

48. 19:24

    Like I might seem very hopeful but easily yes. I will show more results on and maybe a trap come in the coming months. All right, that's bullish. Monza, say yes too. We got all the uh events coming up. Nearcom activations going. I think feel like the Legion is uh still like right in the early stages where everything that we want to do. We're just uh you know, it's just getting

49. 19:51

    going right now. So, I think the size that we have right now is pretty pretty crazy for what we've been, you know, for for what it is. Yeah, now we're now we're going full gas with events uh all over the world and near con coming up and we've got products and content cooking. So, I think uh I think 10,000 should be easy.

50. 20:12

    Okay, [snorts] potato. I think we might just hit 10K, but it won't be easy. Um but I'm I'm hopeful because there's uh IRL activations, there's near con as Monza said. Um there's so I think like Legion is kind of entering its second phase. So and we when did Legion start? Like around September. So yeah, in about three or four months it's done pretty good.

51. 20:40

    But it it's going to be uh right on the line. So maybe like towards the end of the year we might just hit 10K. Interesting. Ryme, sorry I couldn't find my mute button. Yeah, I think uh I think 10K is a pretty attainable milestone there. Uh I think I think the biggest I think the biggest a uh goal for us would be obviously 10,000 active members. Um, but yeah, I think I think considering the trajectory and considering the network of events that we have going through every corner of the earth, I think that it's it's a

52. 21:21

    pretty uh moderate milestone for the Legion to be able to reach you guys. You guys are making me sweat with your with these high expectations. So, Tat, what do you think? Honest expectation, I would say mapped members, yes, we will reach 10K because of the events going on. people inviting each other and stuff that but active members is going to be really difficult.

53. 21:43

    Yeah, but math and join 100% 10k 10k and above but active is going to be difficult. And a great comment there from Christian. Quality over quantity. If you're in Minsk, that's the guy to talk to. Uh rising star of Legion. Shout out to Christian. Um we will see how the year treats us and how the market might treat us as well. All right, little J11.

54. 22:06

    I don't think uh Half Blood is here right now, but um we had two favorites in the first races. I don't know if anyone actually knows how J1 is fully designed and there's still 10 races left, I think. So, we can just do a quick yes no here because I don't think anyone has more to add on this. Anyone want to think if Halfblutter tipster takes J1 championship the winning the winning podium finish with the big reward on it? You win.

55. 22:39

    Can we open like a poly market bat on it? Uh let me bet like like few hundred on half blood. Half bloodood. All right. We we I think Tat has that going for for Den Arena. Um so yeah uh Monza potato rhyme tat real quick. Yes or no? Half butter tipster.

56. 23:00

    I'm gonna say no. I'll take the field on that one. Gotcha. Potato. Yeah, I'd say neither. So, if you look at the second race, it was completely the standings were completely different from the first one. Um, so you could have a you could have the possibility that neither come neither of them come on top.

57. 23:23

    Okay. Rhyme. Um, Half Blood's the only name that I recognize and probably the depth of what I understand of what's going on with J1, so I'm going to go with Half Blood. All right, sounds good. Cat, I think none, but I I'll vote for Half Blood.

58. 23:45

    Yeah. So, I was going to say this is the easiest bet for the field, guys. No one knows how this is going to go. Uh, this was meant to be a softball, but I guess we all love Halfblood, so you guys are locked in on that prediction. All right, so here's a fun one. We have 10 events planned in January. We are we are intending to compound grow events from January to December. So that means that if that compound growth continues, we would have

59. 24:13

    20 events in February uh you know close to 40 events in March and it would continuously go up ab up up. That's an that's an extremely ambitious form of growth. So the line here is at the end of 2026, well we have over a hundred events having been hosted for the near legion uh around the world in different cities and with different Legion members setting it up. Yes or no? Above or below 100 you and you for everyone watching is

60. 24:47

    hosting the Koala Lumpur event. I think there's already like 45 people RSVPd. Uh you'll have a good feel for this. Are we going to get to over 100 in 2026? Yes, we will. But the only thing I'll be afraid of is like the quality of events because the more events we do like the control of it will be a bit hard to to do. So hopefully even if we do 100 it might be closer to the year end so that we have like a set procedure we can

61. 25:15

    ensure that all the host knows what to do and ensure that there is like a set SOP so that it's not like just doing the events just for the sake of events but doing the events to bring in quality members as well. That's right. And just to add on to that, we are actually building an intensebased front end for event participants to set up a DCA into Near straight at the event to join the Legion and to essentially become a a

62. 25:39

    disciple of the near legion and buy NER every single day. So, you're spot on. Um, the goal of these events is to grow the NER ecosystem IRL and also to eventually establish city nodes around the world for self-sustaining NER communities. there will be a lot of iteration on how these events run in spite of the ambitious, you know, outofthegate setup. So, um, and great feedback as well. Uh, Monza, your thoughts? [snorts]

63. 26:07

    I'll say yes. I think uh the first few events will probably inspire some uh some other people that would maybe a little nervous about hosting one themselves to inspir [snorts] coming up and and all the other things we have we have cooking I think uh I think we could do this and as long as EN's hosting an event every month you know that gives us like 10 12 right there so right you can get you 10% of the way potato

64. 26:37

    yeah It's I think it's an easy yes. Uh we're doing 10 or 10 or 11 in January. If you if you don't even compound it, you're doing about 120 for the year. So, and we are expecting like we already have a lot of interest for February. So, we are compounding and it is going to keep growing. Um so, yeah, easy over easily over 100.

65. 27:01

    All right, Ryan. Uh same logic for potato there. Uh so assuming the powers that be let us continue that number is pretty much built in as a floor. Um but I would also like to comment on the DCA front end as we are asking our attendees and inviting more people into the near community to DCA the token. If we are going to ask these people to DCA our near token, I think it's only good faith for us to

66. 27:33

    also DCA our own token. And when I say, I mean in reference to the near intense fees and revenue. So um big believer in uh a giving uh method of uh you know of commerce. So you have to give in order to receive. Yeah. Sorry words are hard today.

67. 27:54

    Yeah. T um everybody's so bullish by the way, but yes. Um, I think we can uh we can easily get we're going to zero. We can easily get more than 100, but there's a but I I don't think we should though. We need to make sure we bring quality. I saw I think um someone commented about it as well. So I think we need to make sure to see how the first one goes to make sure we provide quality stuff even if it's like small

68. 28:21

    events. So 100 is easy to reach but should we do it? Me not sure. That's my answer. Also also echo those sentiments. Yep. So, smart events over I think Yeah, that's been shared. Quality over quantity. Love it. Exactly. All right. Um, gonna get a little competitive here. Will Near overtake Tao and Mind Share to become the number one AI token? I think if you looked over the last couple days, it was about a 2002 220 uh million market cap difference.

69. 28:54

    They flipped once earlier in Q3 Q4. Do we think Near's got enough juice to take the mantle and position itself as the number one AI token at some point in 2026? Yes or no? If you want to add why, go for it. You in. I'll just say yes. I need to think about the Y at the moment.

70. 29:16

    So, there are a lot of different products coming in, but I still need to like think more about like how how we going to like position ourselves. Okay, Monza. I'll just say yes potato when we say mind share it's market cap right not exactly right that's yeah that's the index so we're not meaning like a mind share kaidometric we're meaning like if are you number one by market cap in the AI token category yeah I mean irrespective I'd say yes

71. 29:47

    whether like it's like crypto trader mind share or market cap we should be higher than uh to rhyme Who is the founder of tow? Many multiple. There's multiple founders. There's multiple teams that are involved. I think maybe uh Barry Silbert uh or I forget that his full last name from uh there there are some notable personalities, but I don't think none is defining as Elia.

72. 30:15

    Gotcha. Gotcha. So, none of them built the architecture that is foundational to modern AI. Is that correct? I would I would say that's correct. Yeah. Okay. Yes. Okay. Tat easy. Yeah. Yeah. Say yes. Yes. For me as well, man. Talking about being bullish. This is it's been No, but I mean this Yeah. You know, because it's not it's right there.

73. 30:40

    They're close. They're close and near years on and for the plan that we have for for the upcoming year is going to be a yes. All right. We'll see. I trust in us. What city will get the first Legion City node in 2026? That's that is a wild card considering we haven't even hosted an event anywhere and we don't even know who's going to be a setup for optimal GM of this city. But we can actually look at this

74. 31:05

    theoretically. If you would want a city to have a a city node for near and build out a basis for a a IRL community around the world, which city would you want to see get a city node in 2026? you in like guys you are basically competing with me if you want to like do a first city note so get ready sign on the form and because I'll be doing a lot of things in my own city with the governments with the project so the competition is going to be hot just

75. 31:39

    going to put it out there all right you put voting for himself I love to see it Monza your thoughts I'm gonna I'll go with Nashville. I'll take I'll take Nashville as the winner there. Very interesting. Potato. Uh it's it's a tight one. And uh but I think I fancy Minsk. I think Christian is doing a great job at getting people together in Belarus. So maybe Minsk.

76. 32:08

    Yeah. You know um there was rumors that um someone is going to drive 10 hours to the Minsk meetup. Wow. Just as a heads up. So, I hope your city commitment meets that. Um, Ryme, yeah, I'm I'm not going to lie. Me and Yuan kind of sold me. So, wherever wherever you wherever you do it, I'm I'm on the board. Send me the sheet. I'm signing. Kala Lumpur. All right. Interesting. Tat, your thoughts.

77. 32:37

    I I I'm going for Christian as well, so I'm going men. I'm sorry, Yan. I love you, but uh Christian is doing great as well. High expectations, Christian. High expectations, sir. I'd love to see it happen. But, uh, yeah, just so you know, that's interesting. We also had a lot of Logos and DFW and a couple of others. We are hoping to get 10 city nodes up. So, this is not, you know, a winner take

78. 33:00

    all. There will be many city nodes depending on, you know, where we can establish the largest IRL quality qualitative community. All right, this is a fun one. It's a simple yes or no. You guys have the whole year to think if this happens, it has to be done publicly. So, you have to have, you know, a straightup uh actual X announcement or near blog that showcases this. It can't be theoretical. It can't be in the future.

79. 33:34

    Will Near announce an institutional partnership with a large financial services or AI company in 2026? And remember, I would also say Sovereign would apply in place of near here as the digital asset treasury of NAR because they're part of kind of the ecosystem strategy. So the the real question is do you think a big institutional financial services or AI company is going to start using near tech in the form of an officially announced partnership in 2026? you in

80. 34:07

    I would say yes, but it will be in the form of maybe near intense first in my opinion because that's being used too much and it's being pushed in crypto a lot. You with the the you know curveball of near intense is going to actually lead this. That's fascinating. Uh Monza, uh I like that take from from you as well, but so I'll I'll double down on that. I'll say yes uh to both to both intense and AI.

81. 34:38

    All right, potato. Yeah, I feel like uh this question is intentionally trying to tease something, so I'd say yes. Um what? Yeah, let let's uh interesting. All right. Uh, rhyme. I pray in the name of George Zang that it is a guest.

82. 35:05

    Someone clip that. Right. And please, sweet baby George Zang, bring us home, cat. Um, I don't know. Uh, no. I'm going with a no. Nice. Nice. Uh, contra, you know, going to zero. Contrarian take. I still respect it. Contrarian take. All right, another hot topic. Hot topic. Just so you all know, we asked Mister to join little late notice. I'm sure he would love to talk about this if he was here. He's not

83. 35:39

    here. None of us have any idea about anything on this topic. We just thought it would be a fun prediction to look back on at the end of 2026. Will hot TGE in 2026? Yes or no thoughts? you in I don't know to be fair. You gota you gotta go yes or no. What does your gut tell you a year from today is going to be happening?

84. 36:03

    I would say yes but with a question mark to be fair. All right. If market suddenly go sideways. Yeah. Then it would be a no. All right Monza. I don't know what happened. I'm going to go with no though. I don't know if you can still hear me. Yep. We can hear you. We can hear you.

85. 36:24

    Um, potato spinners. Yeah, I think I'll have to uh pick a no for this one. Um, all right. Ryme, I believe that as of this morning, Poly Market had Jesus returning at higher odds. So, I'm going to go with no. Damn, guys. I if the market follows at as it has to, I think it's gonna be a yes for this year. Only if only if. But yeah, so it's a yes.

86. 37:01

    Somebody somebody screenshot this guy. He's he's he's sniping it from a long range out. He's saying February 2026. Bookmark it. That's the same thing I'm talking about. Remember this account and we'll see. You never know. But this this degree of uh uh you know, targeting is impressive. So I agree with him. I agree with him though. I 100% agree with him. But only February 29th, right?

87. 37:27

    Only if the market follows. Yeah. The end of February 100%. All right. 29th February. Yeah. All right. 28th. [clears throat] Will question 11. Do you think, and I'll add some context to this, do you think that next year at this time we'll still be talking about NAR as one of the tokens in the holy trinity of privacy and it will build itself a niche as a privacy token alongside Zcash. Now you could say now I'm not saying like a privacy

88. 37:59

    payment token. I'm saying people will associate near with some type of privacy infrastructure, privacy product, privacy solution. The token might be used to pay or access that but will near be in the privacy conversation one year from today you I don't think so in my opinion because currently narrative is still AI intense p pushing in maybe it's a crosschain swap but where would be the privacy token narrative coming from so that would be how I want how I want to see

89. 38:32

    how near foundation does it in 2026 and so You you do want to see them be priv you want to see them get into the privacy discourse more. Is that what you're saying? Yes, sir. Gotcha. Beautiful. Monza, uh I I think we will and I hope that we will.

90. 38:50

    Nice. Solid take, Potato. Yeah, I hope it will, but I think NAR is positioned more to enable other privacy tech stacks. So, uh powering Zcash and the likes of it. Maybe not as near itself or more as an enabler. Real quick before Ryme pops in, Vinnie coming in with a great take. He'd love so, but he thinks that we need more privacy apps tools for that to happen.

91. 39:20

    Things like mixers, account obiscation, etc. Great take, Vinnie. Ryme, your take. Um, I think it's a I I think it's too ambiguous of a spectrum to kind of say yes or no just by the way that near is affiliated with those different layers of privacy and what you associate with privacy.

92. 39:42

    So, so let me make it simple right now people say you know uh Zola near uh the holy trinity of starknet zcash and near things like that. Are we still going to be talking about privacy with the near in that sentence a year from today?

93. 39:59

    Yeah, I I think I I I I do believe that 100%. And the point that I was going to make is, you know, if you go to Coin Gecko right now and you pull up Zcash, the contract says near protocol, like until until that changes, I I see that narrative only getting stronger.

94. 40:15

    And if it doesn't, I think that that's a huge miss um on our part. cat. [clears throat] Um, I'm going with a no because not for the token, not for the near token itself, but will we enable that for other tokens and for other stuff? Yes.

95. 40:32

    But for near as a token, no. No, it's not going to happen because I think we're far more focused on AI than any other thing. Nice. Or or for than privacy. That's what I mean. All right. This one isn't everyone's powers. you would think hasn't really happened or manifested I don't think yet. Will Nar get onto poly market in 2026? Will there be a poly market that has a prediction about something to do

96. 40:58

    with near intense volume uh near price something about AI compute? Something about anything related near will make it to poly market this year in supposedly the year of prediction markets. By the way, Euan Can I ask is it going to be like a near wallet integration or is it just like No, no, a market about near. So this would be this would be saying like you could you would go to poly market completely separate and you would see something about will the price of near

97. 41:30

    or will near intense or will near AI and there will be a an open prediction market about the near ecosystem. Oh for sure. I think that's like an easy milestone to hit to be fair. All right, Monza, I think so as well. I think we'll see probably something about either Yeah, near token price, intense volume, hopefully something AI related, but there'll be something somewhere. Okay, potato.

98. 41:59

    Yeah, I I I think it should happen. Uh it's a pretty low lift, so I'm rooting for Yes. rhyme. Um, I don't particularly care to be honest. It doesn't just having near listed as a as another market for someone to bet on like doesn't move the needle. There's a You don't think it in the meta the prediction market meta? You don't think it'll it'll help for near to be at least associated with poly market?

99. 42:33

    I think it depends on how it's associated with poly market. I think that's a two-prong question. You know, if it's just listed as a as a betting betting market, like a singular betting market within the sea of things where hey, we're will near go to this or we're near intense volume go to that. Um I don't think that moves the needle like even a little bit. Um but if you're talking about a wider integration and

100. 42:55

     actual using it within Poly Market, um I don't necessarily think that's happening, but that would be something that I would care about. cat just the market. Yeah, for sure. Like like just a prediction 100%. Easily. Let's hold ourselves accountable and see what we get. This is in my opinion, this is one of those where as the as the comment says, it should. Now, whether that happens or not, we will see.

101. 43:24

     All right, another fun one. Maybe this is foreshadowing, maybe not. How many partnerships will private AI cloud B2B announce in 2026? Under or over 10. Now, we had a question before about large partnerships. This would be any partnerships. So, for an example, when private cloud came out, they talked about how uh Modzilla was a partner in integrating, you know, private cloud as a part of that, you know, initial uh rollout.

102. 43:57

     It would be on that level. Doesn't have to be big, but are we going to find product market fit with private AI cloud in the B2B space under or over 10? Where are we at you in? I'll say yes. Like if it's just any integration or partnership, yeah, it's very easy to hit.

103. 44:14

     Okay, Monza, I'm with that 10 over 10. Potato. Yeah, I think if you look at how intense has so many integrations should be easy to hit over 10 rhyme at the church of George Zang we pray multiple times a day. So uh I do pray that uh we get more than 10 partnerships. The difference between large partnerships and you know just partners uh I mean depending on even how you define that word looks a lot of different things. So, uh, I would hope that if we are all in on AI the way that we are, that 10 would be an attainable

104. 44:56

     number and far exceed it. Pat, if it's any partnership, over 20 easily. Easily. Mark my words. All right. a lot of I just want to point out to everybody that like this degree of bullishness, you know, will require an impact of some of some sort for near in 2026. You won't get away with announcing these partnerships and near staying where it is right now in people's minds or um you know on the charts. So I think we're all gearing up for a pretty big year for Near, which is

105. 45:31

     interesting uh because crypto seems a little disenchanted right now. And to take us to the next question for where things are, this was actually made when the market was pretty low. Are you do you think a year from today the community the ecosystem all of you here will be more happy or more sad? And this is about near this is about your your sense of den on expectations or den miss

106. 45:56

     expectations for what you are hoping for one year from today. Are we going to be more optimistic or less optimistic about the future of near you? Your take? I'll say yes. With Legion intense AI coming on board and online, unless like something very big happens like another war happens, I think everything will be it will be a happy ending for us for 2026.

107. 46:21

     Oh, he called he called the happy ending. All right, Monza. Uh I Well, I think I think it's all related anyway. So like if I I will be more happy or sad depending on if you know I'm more happy or sad about here. So uh we'll we'll say yeah we'll be we will all be happier here today.

108. 46:43

     Man, all this optimism about 2026 is again it make it's making me nervous but I'm I'm glad everyone's super optimistic. Potato. Yeah I people have to be happier a year from now. Um, there's very low animal spirits right now. So, definitely. Yes.

109. 47:04

     All right, Ryme. So, I have a bit of a confliction of thought and you said the word and you alluded to just crypto being disenchanted right now. Um, currently I'm extremely bullish on what NER is doing, especially as it's further entrenching itself as a infrastructure for all the different chains to be able to um have access to universal liquidity. But at that same time, uh I don't think I've ever been more bearish on crypto as a whole. Uh I think we're

110. 47:40

     in a very weird place at the moment. And that was uh I mean I I think that it's kind of proven itself the way that the year has has unfolded but particularly the way that 10 10 uh played out I I don't I don't think we have the necessary answers for that and you know there's just some things like charts just don't wick to zero uh like that. So I I am hopefully optimistic um just because my life is invested in this

111. 48:11

     space but I am very concerned about the overall macro state of things which ultimately is is bigger than near. So as bullish as I am on near um I am a little bit less bullish on uh the overall space which ultimately where what we're reliant on to some degree.

112. 48:30

     All right, so we got some great chat uh comments in the chat. More happy. Obviously, the worst has happened. Thanks uh Victor for that. I think that's fair. And uh always the worst. We're at max pain right now. Up only from here. That's exactly right. If you guys are watching this, you're the trench warriors. You guys are the ones who are going to win the biggest if we can turn things around this year and get near, you know, into the top 20 and turn it into a thriving abundant ecosystem for the future of AI. Tat, what do you think?

113. 49:01

     I would say happy for the ecosystem because of the stuff we're going to be doing like the events and community that's going to be amazing by the end of the year 100%. But market sentiment, we're going to be sad. O, I'm sorry guys. I'm being realistic. That's the thing.

114. 49:20

     All right, in line with that, let's get really direct here. Will near break into the coin market cap top 25 in 2026 break? It doesn't have to stay. Will it will it ascend to reach that level or will for whatever reason it not even get close? Euan uh just want to put it out there.

115. 49:42

     Currently we are ranked at 38. So hitting 25 some ground work needs to be done but I think it's possible. A lot of tokens still have their unlocks happening. you'll see the market cap getting affected as well. Near is fully unlocked just inflation reduction as also happen as well. So I think 25 is is possible for 2026 Monza.

116. 50:08

     Yeah, for for more context, she is uh is ranked 25th right now. So, I I'd like to see us get up there with with She Potato. I think we we might hit uh but we won't stay. All right. All right. Fair. Rhyme. I mean, I'm looking I'm looking at what's ahead of us. Like, something called Mantle's ahead of us. Something called Memecor is ahead of us. Um, I'm [clears throat] pretty sure DOT spent the rest of their treasury on wrapping their private planes. Um, surely surely

117. 50:50

     we reach a top 25 market cap. Uh, whether we stay, I don't I don't know. But, uh, the way that things are trending, I would think so. But, uh, again, the the larger market forces have me very spooked. And I hope I'm very wrong. But yeah, the amount of hopeopium here makes me want to invite Slime onto the stream because we you guys are you guys are being really optimistic. So Tat, nope,

118. 51:19

     not he'll tell us straight what happens. All right. Tad doesn't think it's happening. No, it's not going to happen because all the other coins are going to go up as well. Top 30, we can see top 30. Top 25 is going to be difficult. It needs to be like a major shift. So I think as long as we don't bottom out, I think we overtake Suie. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow.

119. 51:39

     But but but if we pass the 25, like top 25, we'll go higher 100%. All right, folks. Well, that that is it. Those are the 15 questions that we will revisit uh a year from today. Um thanks for joining on the holiday stream and be on the lookout for a crate if you're hosting event. if you got your SBT um and if you're active and near Legion, we got, you know, plenty of those available. And uh a big thank you to everybody. As I think some of the comments had said above, it's been hard these last couple months in in crypto.

120. 52:18

     We're not quitting. Near has a very very optimistic future with the people who are running the ship and the product stack and all of you who are buying in every day. Let's be honest with each other. Let's keep working together and um let's have a great 2026 which hopefully lives up to the expectations of how optimistic everyone is. If you want to host an event, be on the lookout for the form. Um we have an events form.

121. 52:45

     We'll be in touch. We're already booked through February. Uh so it'll be in March and moving from there. But we'd love to have more people host events. We'd love to grow the Near Legion community. And um say say GM in the chat and uh we'll we'll see you guys around.

122. 53:00

     So have a good one everybody. Happy New Year's. Happy New Year guys. New Years. Bye. to buy in.