OceanPal Partners with NEAR in $120M AI Infrastructure Deal
- OceanPal invests $120M in SovereignAI to merge blockchain with artificial intelligence.
- The NEAR Foundation partnership aims to build privacy-first, AI-driven infrastructure.
- SovereignAI aims to acquire up to 10% of NEAR’s supply and lead AI blockchain growth.
OceanPal Inc. has announced a $120 million private investment in public equity to fund its new subsidiary, SovereignAI Services LLC. The initiative, developed in partnership with NEAR Foundation, aims to merge blockchain and artificial intelligence to build a privacy-first digital infrastructure.
The company confirmed that SovereignAI will focus on commercializing the NEAR Protocol, a blockchain designed for AI-driven use cases. Through this move, OceanPal plans to position itself as the leading public investment vehicle providing exposure to NEAR’s native token and its AI ecosystem.
OceanPal’s Shift Toward AI and Blockchain
The Nasdaq-listed shipping firm will use the investment proceeds to expand beyond maritime operations into blockchain-based technology development. SovereignAI plans to accumulate NEAR tokens with the goal of acquiring up to 10% of the total supply over time.
According to OceanPal, the partnership with the NEAR Foundation represents a strategic move toward “universal AI sovereignty.” The new venture will build infrastructure that enables AI agents to operate autonomously and manage assets. It will also allow them to execute transactions while preserving privacy and ownership rights.
Co-CEO Sal Ternullo said the initiative targets enterprises across finance, healthcare, and media seeking privacy-preserving, regulatory-compliant AI solutions. “We believe NEAR presents the greatest asymmetric upside across mature projects in the digital asset market,” Ternullo stated.
He added that SovereignAI aims to leverage NEAR’s vertically integrated AI products. The goal is to meet rising institutional demand for automation and scalable AI frameworks. The project will also use decentralized compute systems to support the development of confidential and user-owned AI models.
Ternullo, previously a General Partner at A100x and an executive at State Street and KPMG, joined OceanPal to lead this technological transition. Alongside him, David Schwed, former Chief Information Security Officer at Robinhood, will serve as Chief Operating Officer. He contributes a wealth of cybersecurity and compliance experience.
NEAR Foundation to Support SovereignAI’s Mission
The NEAR Foundation will play a central role in SovereignAI’s development and governance. NEAR co-founder and CEO Illia Polosukhin will chair SovereignAI’s advisory board, which includes prominent figures from both traditional finance and AI sectors. Advisory members include Richard Muirhead of Fabric Ventures, Lukasz Kaiser from OpenAI, Philippe Sachs of Nscale, and Andy Brown from Sandhill East. Jackie Kennedy from Quicknode will also join, providing insights from infrastructure and cloud scaling environments.
Polosukhin described the collaboration as a key step toward “true universal AI sovereignty.” He emphasized that NEAR’s architecture supports secure, private AI operations aligned with global data and compliance standards. “We look forward to working with SovereignAI to enable private, user-owned AI and agentic commerce,” Polosukhin said.
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The transaction attracted major investors, including Kraken, Proximity, Fabric Ventures, and G20 Group. Clear Street LLC and Cohen & Company Capital Markets served as placement agents, while Sealion Capital LLC advised OceanPal. Legal representation came from Reed Smith LLP for NEAR, Seward & Kissel LLP for OceanPal, and Paul Hastings LLP for Clear Street and CCM.
SovereignAI’s model marks a shift from passive crypto treasury strategies toward active infrastructure building. The company intends to use the yield from its balance sheet to develop decentralized compute systems and expand blockchain-native AI networks. Chief Operating Officer David Schwed noted that SovereignAI aims to “go beyond treasury management to actively build infrastructure enabling privacy-preserving AI at scale.”
The company will continue to operate OceanPal’s traditional shipping business while growing its AI division. OceanPal expects this diversification to strengthen its market position by combining established global trade operations with frontier technology development.
