Unlocking the next Revolution of DeFi: RHEA x NEAR Intent

Source: Rhea Medium
How abstraction and intent power the first truly chain-abstracted lending platform

Liquidity fragmentation has long been DeFi’s greatest bottleneck. Each chain operates in isolation, forcing users to bridge assets, juggle multiple wallets, and manage gas in different ecosystems. This fractured experience drains capital efficiency and limits adoption.

RHEA, as part of the NEAR ecosystem, was built to solve this problem: consolidating liquidity and abstracting away complexity through chain signatures and intent-based infrastructure. Earlier milestones — like enabling chain-abstracted staking from BSC to NEAR via Wormhole, and providing BTC holders with access to lending and swaps through Satoshi Ramp — laid the groundwork.

Now, in collaboration with the Near Intent team, RHEA is taking the leap forward: launching the first true multichain money market — designed for both everyday users and professional on-chain market makers.

RHEA Lending with Near Intent

User flow

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1. Users on Ethereum, Bitcoin, Solana, Sui, or XRP sign a Near Intent from their native wallet.
2. Near Intent auto-provisions a NEAR account controlled by the user’s original wallet and routes deposits directly into RHEA Lending.
3. Deposits consolidate into a unified liquidity pool on NEAR, solving fragmentation and maximizing efficiency.
4. Borrowers access the pool by posting collateral and paying fees on their loans.

This flow ensures users enjoy simple, native deposits while liquidity consolidates into one efficient pool that powers lending, borrowing, and liquidations.

Part 1: Chain Abstraction with NEAR Intent

RHEA is designed to make lending across chains as simple as possible. Powered by NEAR Intent, it gives users from Ethereum, Bitcoin, Solana, Sui, and XRP the ability to deposit their assets seamlessly into RHEA Lending.

There’s no need to manually bridge assets, manage multiple wallets, or worry about gas across different ecosystems — everything is handled through a single, unified platform.

From this foundation, RHEA introduces key layers of abstraction and consolidation:

• Cross-Chain Lending: Users can deposit stablecoins, ERC-20s, BTC, SPL tokens, and more directly from their home chains. Near Intent auto-generates a NEAR account controlled by the user’s original wallet to manage supply and lending.
• Wallet & Gas Abstraction: No NEAR wallet setup. No NEAR gas tokens required. Users interact directly from their native wallets, with the same familiar UX.
• Unified Liquidity: All supply and borrowing occurs on NEAR, creating one deep liquidity pool that eliminates fragmentation.
• Simplified Liquidation: Liquidations are executed in one place on NEAR, with rewards withdrawable to any chain.
• Incentive Boosts: Locking xRHEA amplifies supply and borrow rewards for long-term users.

Together, these abstractions make RHEA the first truly user-centric multichain money market.

Part 2: Solvers and Market Makers in Action

Beyond retail users, RHEA empowers Solvers and Market Makers (MMs) — the liquidity engines behind intent settlement. By plugging into RHEA Lending and Near Intent, they gain not only operational efficiency but also greater capital utilization and higher yield opportunities.

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• Collateralize Assets: Solvers/MMs lock a single asset into RHEA Lending, earning fees and strengthening the pool.
• Escrow Intent: Near Intent temporarily locks user orders, enabling Solvers/MMs to step in.
• Borrow Bridging Assets: To fulfill orders, Solvers/MMs borrow bridging assets from RHEA Lending.

– They pay a fee to RHEA Lending for borrowed liquidity.

– They earn a fee from Near Intent for fulfilling user orders.

• Rebalance: After completing orders, Solvers/MMs rebalance to close borrowing positions.

This dual-layer model ensures Solvers/MMs both contribute to the liquidity backbone (via collateral) and act as infrastructure (via intent fulfillment).

Part 3: RHEA tapping into the next DeFi Revolution

Throughout the years, Finance itself has undergone many revolutions, each time reshaping how humans interact with money. DeFi is also under that very same umbrella. It is new, full of potential, and still waiting for its defining breakthrough. That said, what can we learn throughout the long history of finance?

The Card Revolution: When Finance became invisible

Up until mid-20th century, payments are a manual act. Everyone carried cash, counted change, and piggy banks are still a thing! Also, when you are travelling across borders, it is almost mandatory to find a store/booth/counter to swap money into another currency to spent it elsewhere. Sound familiar to DeFi’s cross-chain UX today? Let’s continue.

Then came the card revolution. At first, it was just plastic with a chip. But what it really did was consolidate liquidity from banks into one global network. Instead of managing cash in different forms, people suddenly had one card that “just worked.”

The fascination is, behind the scenes, the system was complex. Authorizations, clearing, settlements, cross borders…. Yet none of that mattered to the end user. With every swipe, Visa or Mastercard quietly moved money across borders. Over time, the experience became so seamless that the “act of payment” became invisible.

Fast forward today, tapping a card does not even feel like spending. Money simply flows. That was the breakthrough: finance became invisible, and then adoption skyrocketed.

Parallel in the current DeFi State

DeFi today mirrors a lot like finance before the card revolution. It is fragmented, siloed, burdened with friction. Manual tasks such as bridging assets, juggling between wallets, and paying gas feels like the cash-and-exchange-counter era all over again…

DeFi needs its own “It moment”, one that allows liquidity to flow seamlessly across chains, abstracting complications to behind the scenes. This is the role RHEA is building towards, to launch the first true multi-chain money market designed for both everyday users and professional on-chain market makers.

Why RHEA Matters

• For Users: A seamless, native lending experience across chains — no bridges, no new wallets, no gas juggling.
• For Liquidity: Fragmented capital is unified into one deep pool.
• For Solvers/MMs: A dual revenue model — fees from Near Intent and participation in RHEA Lending.
• For Ecosystems: A liquidity backbone that spans Ethereum, Bitcoin, Solana, Sui, XRP, and beyond.

Over the years, RHEA has already shipped multiple products that drives chain-abstraction forward, including the latest breakthrough in Multi-chain lending:

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Conclusion

Just like the card revolution turned payments from a clunky, manual process into something invisible, RHEA’s abstraction layers turn DeFi from fragmented steps into a seamless experience. Users won’t need to think which chain they are on — they’ll just lend, borrow, and trade. When the mechanics fade into the background and only the utility remains, that’s when the next DeFi revolution begins.

Updated: September 5, 2025