NEAR AI Tops 1 Million Tokens Staked for Inference Credits

NEAR AI has reported more than 1 million $NEAR tokens staked with its platform, according to CryptoNews. The service allows users to allocate staking rewards toward AI inference while retaining ownership of their underlying deposited tokens.

Staking and Inference Mechanics

According to CryptoNews, the protocol introduced the payment option on July 30 to cover 43 models from providers including OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google, alongside confidential inference and hosted agents. The service converts staking yield into computing credits that accumulate each second, with unused balances carrying forward. Unstaking stops new credits from accruing, and users can manage changes through signed wallet transactions.

The available budget depends on the amount staked, the price of NEAR, and the staking annual percentage yield. NEAR AI values one credit at one US dollar of platform usage. Network rewards are divided among stakers, with typical validator commissions ranging from 1% to 10% deducted before rewards reach the user.

Pricing and Hosting Models

For budget planning, NEAR AI provides a calculator to translate monthly allowances into required stakes. The platform also publishes a pay-as-you-go price list with no minimum spending requirement, subscription, or seat license. Catalog rates include GLM 5.3 Flash at $0.08 per million input tokens and $0.50 per million output tokens, while Qwen 3.8 27B costs $0.04 per million input tokens and $1.35 per million output tokens.

For hosted agents, NEAR AI’s policy divides the amount staked by 100 to determine a monthly dollar credit budget, with a minimum stake of 50 NEAR required to activate a first agent. The platform also utilizes trusted execution environments to protect code and data during computing.

Key facts

• NEAR AI reported more than 1 million NEAR tokens staked with its service.
• The payment option was introduced on July 30 to cover models from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google.
• Unused inference credits carry forward, while unstaking stops new credits from accruing.
• Hosted agent policies divide the staked amount by 100 to determine monthly dollar credit budgets, with a 50 NEAR minimum stake.