Read this article on bsc.news @NEARProtocol has added $PEARL to @near_intents and the near.com app, giving users a new route into a token tied to AI computation. Users can swap into PEARL fro
@NEARProtocol has added $PEARL to @near_intents and the near.com app, giving users a new route into a token tied to AI computation. Users can swap into PEARL from any supported chain and pay others with it. Swaps are confidential by default, and wallets and apps that use the NEAR Intents 1Click API can now offer PEARL swaps too.
The integration connects the Pearl network to the 1Click API and brings PEARL to near.com, according to the NEAR Intents announcement. NEAR Intents describes itself as a universal trading protocol for onchain markets and tokenized assets, and it now supports confidential swaps.
Traders should note a naming overlap. Pearl's native asset is listed under the ticker PRL on some exchanges, while the ticker used in the NEAR Intents announcement is PEARL. Check the ticker and contract details before trading.
Pearl is a separate Layer-1 blockchain from @prlnet. According to Hashrate Index, its mainnet launched on April 27, 2026, and it was built by Pearl Research Labs. Instead of the hashing used by Bitcoin, miners run large-scale matrix multiplication on Nvidia GPUs. Matrix multiplication is the core arithmetic behind AI training and inference.
Pearl calls its consensus design proof of useful work. Pearl Research Labs says miners earn block rewards and inference fees for the same work. The same computation secures the chain and issues new coins, which are capped at 2.1 billion.
The model has drawn scrutiny. A study cited by KuCoin reported that the protocol verifies correct matrix multiplication but does not confirm that the matrices came from customer-requested AI jobs. How much of the mining work serves paying AI users therefore remains an open question.
For NEAR, the listing adds another asset to an intents-based system that spans more than 35 chains and recently added confidential swaps. For Pearl, it widens access beyond the exchanges where its token already trades.
Sources:
Hashrate Index: Pearl (PRL), the AI-compute cryptocurrency explainedPearl Research Labs: Proof of Useful Work from the ground upKuCoin: What is Pearl Blockchain?
