- OceanPal invests $120M to launch SovereignAI powered by NEAR blockchain.
- SovereignAI aims to acquire 10% of NEAR’s token supply for long-term expansion.
- Institutional investors like Kraken and Fabric Ventures back the $120M PIPE deal.
OceanPal Inc. (OP), a Nasdaq-listed shipping company known for transporting dry bulk goods, is steering in a bold new direction. The Athens-based firm has announced a $120 million private investment in public equity (PIPE) to fund its entry into the rapidly expanding fields of artificial intelligence and blockchain.
The investment will support the launch of SovereignAI Services LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary tasked with developing AI infrastructure powered by the NEAR Protocol blockchain. This move marks OceanPal’s transformation from a traditional maritime transport firm into a player at the intersection of decentralized computing and digital assets.
Through this alliance, OceanPal now joins a small circle of publicly traded firms using digital-asset frameworks to power new business models. The aim, executives say, is to fuse the efficiency of AI systems with NEAR’s decentralized architecture to create infrastructure capable of handling secure, privacy-focused computation at scale.
SovereignAI: A Bridge Between Corporate Capital and AI Technology
SovereignAI’s launch signals more than a shift in focus—it represents a redefinition of how corporations engage with digital assets. The subsidiary plans to acquire up to 10% of NEAR’s total token supply over time, making it one of the largest corporate holders of the asset.
According to the report, OP, via SovereignAI, will serve as a “leading public investment vehicle” for investors seeking exposure to NEAR and the infrastructure supporting “agentic commerce,” a term referring to autonomous AI systems that make and execute decisions on behalf of users.
OceanPal’s co-CEO, Sal Ternullo, acknowledged NEAR’s design offers the scalability and integration needed to realize “universal AI sovereignty,” allowing AI applications to function independently while maintaining transparency and control.
The company’s Chief Operating Officer, David Schwed, a former executive at Robinhood and BNY Mellon, added that SovereignAI stands “at the convergence of two historic technological shifts — AI and digital ownership.” He further noted that NEAR’s blockchain provides “the trust, security, and economic alignment necessary to enable real user-owned AI.”
Strong Financial and Strategic Support
The $120 million PIPE investment includes participation from a blend of institutional and crypto-native backers such as Kraken, Fabric Ventures, Proximity, and G20 Group. Moreover, financial advisors Clear Street LLC and Cohen & Company Capital Markets worked on the transaction, with legal guidance from Reed Smith LLP.
To guide SovereignAI’s development, OceanPal has assembled an influential advisory board chaired by Illia Polosukhin, co-founder and CEO of the NEAR Foundation. The board includes Lukasz Kaiser of OpenAI, Richard Muirhead of Fabric Ventures, Philippe Sachs of Nscale, and Jackie Kennedy of QuickNode.
Their involvement underscores SovereignAI’s ambition to merge institutional discipline with next-generation technology. Polosukhin said the partnership advances NEAR’s goal of achieving “universal AI sovereignty” through open and decentralized computing. “We believe the NEAR Protocol’s AI-centric tech stack will allow user-owned AI to meet its moment,” he said.
OceanPal: A New Model for Blockchain Integration
While most corporations view digital assets as investment vehicles, OceanPal’s approach is more direct. SovereignAI plans to operate a full-scale AI infrastructure business, delivering confidential, blockchain-native AI services across regulated sectors such as finance, media, and healthcare.
On the other hand, the NEAR Protocol, a Layer-1 blockchain designed for high-throughput computing, enables digital systems to move and process data while completing transactions securely across multiple networks. Consequently, OceanPal’s new venture, SovereignAI, plans to use that framework to connect established industries with a new class of decentralized computing infrastructure.
It’s less about experimenting with code and more about giving enterprise systems a bridge into a faster, more transparent digital environment. This shift comes as global firms rush to link automation and blockchain technology.
In recent weeks, analytics platform Dune reported that Coinbase’s network for automated payments recorded a transaction spike of more than 10,000 percent. Around the same time, Cloudflare outlined plans for NET Dollar, a digital currency designed for near-instant machine-driven transfers.
Coinbase’s x402 protocol Analytics (Source: X)
OceanPal’s plan aligns with that broader movement but adds a distinctly corporate twist. The company is combining its balance-sheet discipline with open-network infrastructure and automation tools, betting that these elements together can define the next stage of modern digital commerce.
