OceanPal Aims to Redefine AI Sovereignty with NEAR-Powered Confidential Cloud

OceanPal Inc. has secured a $120 million private investment in public equity (PIPE) to launch SovereignAI Services LLC, a subsidiary focused on building AI infrastructure powered by the NEAR Protocol. The Athens-based shipping company, which will retain its core operations in dry bulk and tanker shipping, aims to position itself as a major player in the blockchain and artificial intelligence space by accumulating up to 10% of NEAR's token supply over time, according to a a Cryptopolitan report. The transaction, which closed in August 2025, includes participation from crypto-native investors such as Kraken, Proximity, and Fabric Ventures, alongside advisory support from Clear Street LLC and Cohen & Company Capital Markets, the Investing.com report said.

The investment marks a strategic pivot for OceanPal, which has long operated in traditional maritime logistics. SovereignAI's mission is to develop "blockchain-native, confidential AI-cloud infrastructure" using NVIDIA technology and NEAR Protocol, a platform designed for scalable, AI-compatible decentralized applications, as detailed in a The Block article. The subsidiary's advisory board, chaired by NEAR Foundation co-founder Illia Polosukhin, includes heavyweights from finance and crypto, such as Richard Muirhead of Fabric Ventures and Lukasz Kaiser of OpenAI, according to Cryptopolitan. Sal Ternullo, OceanPal's newly appointed co-CEO and a former executive at State Street and KPMG, emphasized that NEAR offers "the greatest asymmetric upside across mature projects in the digital asset market," positioning SovereignAI as a public investment vehicle for exposure to the token and its underlying infrastructure, the Investing.com report added.

The market reaction to the announcement was mixed. Shares of OceanPal (NASDAQ: OP) plummeted 22.5% in after-hours trading following the news, reflecting investor skepticism about the company's foray into a nascent sector, according to Investing.com. However, proponents argue the move aligns with broader trends in "universal AI sovereignty," a concept centered on decentralized, user-owned computing infrastructure. David Schwed, OceanPal's chief operating officer and a former Robinhood executive, stated the venture sits at the "convergence of two massive transformations-AI and digital ownership," leveraging NEAR's architecture to enable secure, autonomous agent commerce, as Cryptopolitan reported.

OceanPal's strategy extends beyond passive token accumulation. The company plans to deploy the proceeds from the PIPE to develop AI infrastructure for regulated industries such as finance, healthcare, and media, noted in The Block. This includes building confidential AI services on the NEAR Protocol, a platform that supports privacy-preserving computation and automated agent transactions, per Cryptopolitan. The initiative also aims to integrate with Ethereum's emerging ERC-8004 standard, which allows AI agents to be minted as NFTs and facilitates open, decentralized ecosystems, according to a Blockworks article.

The transaction underscores a growing trend of traditional firms diversifying into blockchain and AI. By targeting 10% ownership of NEAR's token supply, OceanPal could influence the platform's governance and liquidity dynamics, potentially reshaping the token's role in agentic commerce, Cryptopolitan suggested. The move also highlights the increasing overlap between crypto infrastructure and AI innovation, as seen in Ethereum's efforts to position itself as an "app store for AI agents," a narrative covered by Blockworks.