NEAR Protocol Integrates Litecoin for Cross-Chain Swaps via Intents: A DeFi Milestone

NEAR Protocol Litecoin integration marks a significant advancement in cross-chain DeFi, enabling seamless swaps of Litecoin (LTC) with over 120 assets across major blockchains like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana. This update leverages NEAR’s Intents system to deliver deep liquidity, low fees, and fast executions, enhancing Litecoin’s role in decentralized finance.

NEAR’s Intents System: Powering the Litecoin Integration

NEAR Protocol’s Intents framework, a solver-based architecture for user-defined transaction goals, now supports Litecoin as a native asset. Users can initiate swaps via simple intents—such as “swap LTC for ETH”—with solvers competing to fulfill them at optimal rates. This integration unlocks Litecoin’s $5.5 billion market cap for broader DeFi participation, allowing LTC holders to access yield farming, lending, and liquidity pools without bridges or wrapped tokens.

The system processes transactions in sub-seconds with fees under $0.01, outperforming traditional cross-chain solutions by 90% in efficiency. NEAR co-founder Illia Polosukhin stated: “Adding Litecoin to Intents opens up new possibilities for DeFi, bringing one of the oldest cryptocurrencies into the multi-chain future. We’re exploring support for Litecoin’s MWEB privacy feature to further enhance user control.”

• Supported Assets: LTC with 120+ tokens (BTC, ETH, SOL).
• Fees and Speed: <$0.01; sub-second execution.
• Market Impact: $5.5B LTC cap enters DeFi pools.

Benefits for Litecoin Users: Liquidity and Accessibility

Litecoin users gain instant access to Ethereum’s $440 billion TVL and Solana’s $11 billion ecosystem, enabling swaps like LTC to USDC for lending on Aave or Raydium pools. The integration reduces slippage by 70% through competitive solvers, while NEAR’s sharding ensures scalability for high-volume trades. For developers, Intents APIs simplify building cross-chain dApps, with Litecoin’s Mimblewimble Extension Blocks (MWEB) privacy potentially adding shielded swaps.

This move aligns with NEAR’s goal of a “chain-agnostic” DeFi layer, where users focus on outcomes, not infrastructure.

Future Plans: More Chains and Privacy Enhancements

Polosukhin hinted at upcoming integrations for chains like Polygon and Avalanche, with MWEB support for privacy-preserving LTC swaps. NEAR’s roadmap includes intents for RWAs and AI agents, potentially unlocking $50 billion in new liquidity by 2026. As Litecoin’s 10,000 TPS complements NEAR’s 4,000, the partnership could drive 20% LTC volume growth.