The Rollup How to Invest in the Intents Economy with Haseeb Qureshi, Avichal Garg, & Matt Kummel
Jan 23, 2026
Matt Kummel, NEAR Foundation commercial lead with a finance and crypto background. Avichal Garg, operator/investor focused on crypto infrastructure and network effects. Haseeb Qureshi, long‑term crypto investor with early protocol bets. They dig into intents as the cross‑chain plumbing. They debate who captures value across apps, protocols, and solvers. They compare Stripe/Twilio analogies, monetization, and why institutions and agents matter.
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Value Concentrates Top And Bottom
- Most value in the intents stack concentrates at the top (apps) or bottom (solvers/settlement), not the middle.
- Haseeb warns middleware/insulators often struggle to capture long-term value without clear endpoints.
Four Players In The Intents Stack
- The intents ecosystem has four core players: apps, intent protocols, solvers, and destination chains.
- Matt emphasizes apps and solvers capture significant value, while L1s mainly get gas fees.
Intents Could Be A Stripe/Twilio Analogy
- Market structure often forms a U-curve: front-end user owners and heavy-capex infra capture most value.
- Avichal argues intents may look like Stripe/Twilio, creating middle-market value if both sides stay fragmented.