Key Highlights:
- NEAR’s House of Stake has approved HSP-007, moving MPC node funding from discretionary grants to a standing program supported by protocol emissions.
- The program can fund up to 21 MPC nodes, with 17 live mainnet operators currently participating and monthly public reporting on payments and performance.
- The funding mechanism supports Chain Signatures and NEAR Intents, which has processed more than $30 billion in cross-chain volume.
NEAR Protocol is shifting the funding model for its Multi- Party Computation (MPC) network from discretionary grants to a standing program financed through protocol emissions. The initiative, known as HSP-007, was approved by the House of Stake and establishes performance-based rewards, public reporting and regulated oversight by NEAR token holders.
The network currently operates with 17 live mainnet operators, while the program can support up to 21 nodes. According to the blog post, the change aims to give operators a more predictable funding structure while strengthening accountability for uptime and decentralisation. It also supports the infrastructure behind NEAR Chain Signatures and NEAR Intents, which allows transactions and asset movement across multiple blockchain networks.
How Does HSP-007 Change Funding for NEAR’s MPC Network?
HSP-007 establishes a protocol-level mechanism for funding the operators that maintain NEAR’s MPC network. Rather than depending on discretionary and time-limited grants, the program uses protocol emissions to pay operators as per according to a published set of regulations. The House of Stake approved the proposal, with the funding structure governed by NEAR token holders.
The mechanism is designed to link payments to delivered service. Operators receive rewards monthly in arrears, while nodes that fail to meet uptime requirements can forfeit some or all of their rewards for the relevant month.
Participating operators can also challenge another operator’s uptime through the House of Stake governance forum. The program includes spending limits for individual nodes and the overall network, including a cap intended to limit expenditure if the price of NEAR increases.
Eligible nodes, service level agreement results, payments and challenges are reported publicly each month through the House of Stake proposer updates. HSP-007 is also designed to continue from one term to the next unless token holders vote to change it.
Near One will lead a public annual review covering costs, operator sustainability and performance. Structure aims to decrease the need for repeated discretionary funding decisions while giving operators a clear base for planning their operations.
The program can fund up to 21 nodes without changing the terms for individual operators. The 17 live mainnet operators currently listed are Astrostakers, Aurora, Bitwise, Blacksand, Everstake, Greenfield, HashKey Cloud, Klever, Luganodes, MPCH, Nansen, Natsai, Near One, Node Monster, Stakin (The TIE), Staking4all and SVRN. The current operator set is publicly available through the NEAR MPC network dashboard.
SVRN CEO Sal Ternullo, a co-author of HSP-007, said the network has become critical infrastructure for transactions settling through NEAR Intents. He said the program gives operators funding they can plan around, measures their performance through uptime and makes results publicly available. As per Ternullo, this structure provides operators with greater confidence to commit for the long term while giving builders a signing layer they can depend on.
Why Is NEAR’s MPC Network Important for Cross-Chain Transactions?
NEAR Chain Signatures allows a NEAR account to sign transactions on other blockchain networks without a single party controlling the private key. Instead, the signing key is split across independent MPC node operators. Key shares are generated through distributed key generation without a trusted dealer, and a valid signature needs coordination from a threshold of operators.
The network supports Bitcoin, Ethereum and other EVM-compatible chains, Solana and additional blockchain networks. It serves as the signing layer behind NEAR Intents, which has processed more than $30 billion in cross-chain volume. Virtually all Bitcoin and Solana cross-chain flow now moves through the MPC-powered Omnibridge. The long-term funding model matters because cross-chain infrastructure requires operators to maintain reliable signing services.
Prior operators helped bring Chain Signatures into production with grant support, but discretionary funding can be time-limited. HSP-007 seeks to establish a more durable arrangement in which protocol-level incentives support ongoing operations.
Decentralization is another central part of the pattern. Changes to the MPC operator set, signing threshold or running code require an onchain vote by current operators. The network uses an 11-of-17 signing threshold, meaning at least 11 operators must be available for signing to continue. It can detect offline nodes and route signing requests around them.
The network’s core components have also been independently audited by Trail of Bits. Public audit reports cover the Chain Signatures contract, distributed key generation, threshold signing and key derivation schemes. Details about the operator set and network state can be checked through the state method of the v1.signer contract on NEAR mainnet.
Looking ahead, monthly reports will offer visibility into uptime and payments, while NEAR 1’s annual review will evaluate the program’s cost assumptions and operational sustainability.
Capacity to support up to 21 nodes also leaves room for future expansion of the operator stack. To address 0-07, NEAR is seeking to align MPC’s infrastructure funding with measurable performance and token holder governance as cross-chain activity continues to depend on its signing network.
