Deutsche Telekom AG, the world’s fifth-largest telecom company by revenue, is gearing up to make a major play in the $NEAR blockchain as a validator. The move is part of Deutsche Telekom joining NEAR’s Enterprise Node Operators program, aimed at boosting the network’s decentralization and security.
Oliver Neiderle, Head of Digital Trust and Web3 Infrastructure at Deutsche Telekom, called the partnership exciting and cutting-edge. He highlighted that the NEAR dev team shares the company’s goal of giving users more control over their data and boosting data sovereignty.
Deutsche Telekom says this collab is a great fit for its “staking portfolio” and is a key step in positioning itself within decentralized AI and scalable solutions. They didn’t reveal exactly how big their validator role would be, though.
Recently, Deutsche Telekom’s subsidiary MMS and one of Germany’s oldest banks, Bankhaus Metzler, launched a pilot project to explore using excess renewable energy for Bitcoin mining ($BTC ). The companies believe that insights from this could help stabilize Germany’s energy grid, which is currently facing some challenges.