There was a time when I particularly enjoyed studying cross-chain protocols, but the more I looked, the more tired I felt.

It's not the technology that's complex, but rather every time I see selling points like "cross-chain experience is faster" and "lower transaction fees."
I always end up saying, "These things are great, but how do you make money?"

I was chatting with a friend once,
He asked me, "Do you know what the biggest contradiction of cross-chain is?"
I said I don't know.
He said: "Everyone is using it, and no one can make money from the cross-chain itself."
In that moment, I suddenly understood why so many cross-chain projects in the past few years did not succeed.

The model is not compatible, the more you use it, the more you lose, destined to rely on subsidies.

Until I saw Rhea and NEAR Intents this time, I recalled that saying.
But this time, the answer is completely reversed.

The first time I saw a cross-chain system, it explained the idea of "the more others use it → the more I earn" very clearly.

Enter the main text.

When Rhea encounters NEAR Intents: Non-EVM DeFi is truly starting to move.

After participating in the research of many meme projects, very few projects have suddenly made me "enlightened."

Rhea + NEAR Intents is one of them.

It's not because their data is frightening, but because they have truly turned around a cross-chain problem that hasn't been solved for many years:

Cross-chain is no longer a cost, but an income.

NEAR Intents is not a tool

It is more like the "settlement charging point" that all chains cannot bypass.
In the past, when we talked about cross-chain, it was about bridges, swaps, going around in circles, and a fragmented experience.
The logic of NEAR Intents is simply: "What do you want?"

For example:
Exchange ETH for SOL
Borrow assets from Chain A to Chain B
Use BTC as collateral to borrow USDT
Just say the target, and the system will run automatically:

automated price comparison
Automatic Depth
automatic routing
Auto-complete execution

There is only one key point:

No matter which chain you initiate the operation on, the final settlement is on NEAR.

You operate on Solana → Settled on NEAR
You are operating on Base → Settlement on NEAR
You operate on any chain → still NEAR

So each transaction requires a settlement fee of NEAR.

In simple terms:

While others are lively, NEAR is collecting money.
Usage = Revenue.

This is the first time I see that "cross-chain usage" can become "the value of the chain."

What Rhea does is more straightforward.
It has brought those non-EVM assets that have been dormant for many years back into the DeFi world. ZEC and LTC, these older public chains, have considerable market values, but they basically have no presence in DeFi.

Cannot borrow
cannot be staked
Cannot generate income
It's like being trapped in a glass dome.

Rhea's approach is very simple but highly effective:
Unified Pool

Mortgage ZEC → Borrow USDT
Mortgage BTC → Borrow SOL
You can mortgage anything and borrow anything.

cross-asset
Cross-Chain Interaction
cross-ecosystem

Fully connected.
It is completely a different era from the traditional "isolation pool".

Moreover, due to the higher efficiency of the cross-chain unified pool, the interest rate doubles directly:
Base USDC/USDT: about 6%
Rhea: Can reach about 12%
This is something I never thought about before —
It turns out that these old assets are so powerful; it’s just that no one connected them before.

The impact of the data is real.
I don't like to pile up data, but this time I have to mention it.
Because the growth rate is too exaggerated:

TVL accounts for over 94% of the entire NEAR chain.
30-day trading volume close to 1 billion US dollars
Protocol revenue is sufficient to buy back tokens.

Intents has processed 2.3 million cross-chain operations
These are not "planned to launch".
It is the business that is currently running.
You must admit:
The market has already been voting with its feet.

The attitudes of KOLs and institutions have changed very quickly.

In the last two weeks, I have clearly felt a change in direction.

Some veteran traders, data analysts, and researchers have started to actively discuss NEAR, Rhea, and Intents.

Illia (co-founder of NEAR) has always emphasized:
"Intents is not a cross-chain tool, it is the next generation of chain abstraction."
Raydium has listed the ZEC/SOL trading pair.
Many wallets are starting to use Intents by default.
The data platform is also analyzing its fee model.
These are all signals that have already been implemented.
It's not about shouting narratives; it's about the concrete path we're taking.

My conclusion is very simple.

NEAR may be the first ecosystem to truly convert cross-chain usage into "revenue for the chain itself."

Previously, cross-chain was:
"Everyone uses it, I will subsidize."

NEAR has now become:
"Everyone uses it, I charge a fee."

Rhea has completely opened up the ceiling for non-EVM assets.
These two combinations together, this is the first time I've seen it:

Chain abstraction is not a concept.
is a model that can continuously make money.

Cross-chain is not consumption, but revenue.
Users are not a cost, but a source of value.
This is my deepest feeling this time.

I can write on-chain for so long, not because there are many projects, but because I occasionally come across new things that "explain the business logic thoroughly."

@rhea_finance + @NEARProtocol is one of them.

It's not about shouting for the future; it's already running out.
It is not based on imagination, but on the growth of settlement fees and real TVL.
This is why I started to take this direction seriously.