Track market-moving stories before they get noisy

Aurora Labs has launched native cross-chain funding for Solflare wallets through Aurora Intents, allowing users to move assets from Bitcoin, Ethereum and other leading blockchains directly into Solana without interacting with traditional bridge interfaces.

Aurora Intents is powered by NEAR Intents, which settles more than $23 billion in total transaction volume and processes over $2.3 billion each month.

The integration introduces permanent deposit addresses for each supported blockchain and token. According to the projects, users simply transfer assets to the assigned address, while Aurora Intents automatically manages cross-chain routing, liquidity sourcing and token conversion using NEAR Intents infrastructure before delivering assets to Solflare.

Advertisement

Aurora Labs says transfers from Ethereum-based networks generally complete in under one minute, while Bitcoin deposits take about 14 minutes.

The initial release supports Bitcoin, Ethereum, Arbitrum, Base, Polygon, BNB Chain, Tron and NEAR. SOL and stablecoins are the primary destination assets, with additional tokens supported depending on liquidity availability.

The platform charges a 0.1% fee for stablecoin transfers and 1% for other assets, although all deposits will be fee-free during the first month after launch, subject to a combined $125,000 fee waiver.

Aurora Labs said replacing bridge applications with reusable deposit addresses removes one of crypto’s biggest onboarding friction points.

“Bridging has always carried too much anxiety — too many steps, too much that can go wrong. We chose Aurora Intents because its intent-based model removes all of that: you state what you want on Solana, and you receive the real token, on one permanent address for each source-chain-and-token pair that you can reuse forever. No dApp to connect, no wrapped assets,” Vidor Gencel, co-founder and co-CEO of Solflare, stated.

“We think this turns the hardest part of getting onto Solana into something as simple and trusted as a send — and makes Solflare the natural gateway to Solana for funds flowing in from every major chain,” he added.

Solflare said the approach provides users with a simpler and more trusted way to bring assets into the Solana ecosystem.

“Exchanges trained users to copy a deposit address and send funds, and Aurora Intents now brings that same action to a self-custodial wallet,” Declan Hannon, CEO of Aurora Labs, noted. “Apps lose users at the funding step, and most of those users already hold assets somewhere else. Aurora Intents turns that into a deposit address, and both the funds and the users arrive on Solana.”

The rollout follows continued growth across the Solana ecosystem, where monthly active addresses rose approximately 50% during Q1 2026. Solflare currently has more than 4 million active users and over $15 billion in assets under self-custody.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.

Oklo just went shopping again. The nuclear energy company completed its acquisition of Creative Engineers, Inc. (CEI) on June 30, bringing aboard roughly 20 engineers, fabricators, and welders who specialize in exactly the kind of sodium and alkali-metal systems that Oklo’s Aurora reactor technology depends on.

This is Oklo’s second acquisition in a matter of weeks. Stock reaction was mixed, with some price slips observed around the announcement.

Why sodium experts matter for a nuclear startup Oklo’s Aurora reactor is a compact, modular design that uses liquid sodium as a coolant instead of water. CEI has been doing alkali-metal work for nuclear-related projects for years, and the acquisition brings liquid-metal handling, safety training, and reactor component development capabilities in-house rather than relying on external contractors.

Advertisement

CEI has reportedly been generating positive free cash flow for over five years, which makes this more than a talent acquisition. It’s a profitable business being folded into Oklo’s operations, adding manufacturing capability and applied R&D capacity. The financial terms of the deal remain undisclosed.

The broader Aurora timeline is taking shape On June 18, Oklo announced a letter of intent with Centrus Energy to secure high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) fuel supply for upcoming Aurora units. Initial fuel deliveries are projected for 2029, timed to support what Oklo has described as a 1.2 GW clean energy campus.

The company is targeting its first operational Aurora unit at Idaho National Laboratory by late 2027 or early 2028.

What this means for investors watching the nuclear-AI energy nexus Oklo’s chairman is Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI. The company has been positioned at the intersection of nuclear energy and AI infrastructure.

Oklo hasn’t generated meaningful revenue yet, and its first reactor is still at least 18 months from operation. Nuclear regulatory approval processes are famously unpredictable, and the HALEU fuel supply chain remains nascent. Investors should watch regulatory milestones over the next 12 months, the progression of the Centrus Energy fuel supply arrangement toward binding commitments, and whether Oklo announces additional acquisitions ahead of the 2027-2028 launch window.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.