- NEARCON 2026 will happen Feb 23–24 at Fort Mason, San Francisco, with the theme “The Web Desires to Assume.”
- The transfer from Lisbon highlights NEAR’s give attention to AI and decentralization, that includes demos, workshops, and debates.
- NEAR’s ecosystem expands with Aptos integration, enabling quick, low-fee swaps throughout 19 blockchains and 115 tokens.
After greater than two years of silence, NEAR Basis is bringing its marquee occasion, NEARCON, again to life—this time in San Francisco. Set for February 23–24, 2026, the convention shall be hosted on the historic Fort Mason venue, with a theme that’s already sparking curiosity: “The Web Desires to Assume.”
From Lisbon to the Bay
The choice to shift NEARCON away from Lisbon, its earlier house, isn’t nearly surroundings. In line with the Basis, it’s a strategic transfer to root itself nearer to Silicon Valley, the epicenter of AI innovation. This relocation mirrors NEAR’s rising investments in AI agent growth, the place the overlap between machine intelligence and blockchain may form a wholly new frontier.
The 2026 version guarantees extra than simply keynotes and panels. Attendees can anticipate dwell demos of on-chain AI brokers, workshops that dig deep into user-owned AI, and thought-provoking debates on every little thing from AI ethics to mass adoption. It’s not only a convention—it’s being framed as a proving floor for concepts that would push the boundaries of decentralization itself.
Massive Imaginative and prescient, Larger Stage
NEARCON 2023 pulled in between 3,000–5,000 attendees from throughout the globe. With its shift to the Bay Space, the size and ambition of 2026 look set to be even larger. Whereas the total record of audio system hasn’t been introduced but, the involvement of Illia Polosukhin—NEAR’s CEO and co-author of the landmark “Consideration Is All You Want” paper—suggests heavyweight voices in AI and blockchain will take the stage. Purposes to attend or current are already open, signaling early buzz round what’s anticipated to be certainly one of Web3’s largest gatherings of the 12 months.
Partnerships Powering the Ecosystem
Alongside the NEARCON announcement, the Basis continues to strengthen its cross-chain attain. Via its integration with Aptos, customers can now make one-click swaps throughout 19 blockchains with near-zero charges and 1.2-second finality. This technique, known as NEAR Intents, has already dealt with almost $1 billion in swaps throughout 115 tokens, fueling apps like Zashi and ThorSwap. It’s a glimpse of NEAR’s broader imaginative and prescient for a seamless, agent-driven web the place AI doesn’t simply suppose—it acts.
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