Near Intents: Exposing the Fake Decentralisation

Decentralization is supposed to be the non-negotiable promise of crypto. But recent events around Near Intents are raising serious questions about whether that promise is being quietly abandoned.

According to a public report , the Near Intents protocol froze funds and effectively seized user assets worth roughly 10 BTC, followed by alleged threats toward the affected user to delete their post and reduce visibility of the incident. Source: https://x.com/sexinfochina/status/2022242446613139782

While this case may involve a threat actor, it still represents an abuse of power. The user is reportedly a P2P trader linked to North Korean stolen funds. That is a serious accusation, but decentralization should not be conditional or depend on someone’s judgment.

Now the bigger questions are: "What if actions like this go too far?" and "Is decentralization still real or just a word?"

Near Intents markets itself as decentralized infrastructure, yet freezing funds and applying social or legal pressure looks no different from centralized discretionary control.

For comparison, THORChain, which is also implementing intent-based systems, is often cited as a benchmark for real decentralization.