Near Protocol
NEARCON 2026 San Francisco

The NEARCON 2026 conference was an exclusive, application-based gathering held in San Francisco, United States. Focused on user-owned AI, privacy-preserving infrastructure, and decentralized execution, the event served as the flagship summit for the NEAR ecosystem. Attendance was heavily curated, requiring builders, researchers, and founders to submit details on their roles to secure a spot for the sessions at Fort Mason Center. Approved attendees managed their access through Luma.

As a highly curated event, there were no standard ticket pricing tiers; access was granted directly to approved applicants based on their technical background. Alongside the main keynotes, the event featured competitive builder programs. The on-site Agent Wars hackathon introduced a strict 'humans don't code' framework, where participants connected autonomous agents to the NEAR AI Marketplace to complete challenges for a share of a 4,000 NEAR pool, as highlighted by NEAR Protocol. Prior to the physical summit, the virtual Innovation Sandbox sprint awarded up to $15,000 across tracks such as The Private Web, Open Society, and AI That Works for You, with top track winners receiving $3,500 and smaller bounties down to $500.