Since January 2026, the NEAR Legion has hosted more than 30 events across cities on five continents—Tokyo, Frankfurt, New Delhi, Bali, Chicago, Barcelona, Kuala Lumpur, and more. These events have ranged from builder workshops and technical deep-dives to ecosystem introductions for new audiences. Each one has been organized and run by community members.
That momentum is now the foundation for something more structured. Today, the NEAR Legion is launching Legion City Nodes: a program that gives cities with active Legion communities the onchain infrastructure—and the funding—to sustain and grow their presence over time.
What Is a Legion City Node?
A Legion City Node is a validator node on the NEAR network, operated by a local Legion team. Each node is delegated 300,000 $NEAR and retains 100% of the staking rewards it earns—approximately 1,250 $NEAR per month, or 15,000 $NEAR annually.
Those rewards fund the node's operations directly: recurring events, co-working space for local ecosystem and community teams, educational materials, and programming that expands the NEAR presence in that city. The mechanism is designed to be self-sustaining—community activity generates the resources to support more community activity.
For 2026, 10 City Node slots are available globally.
How to Qualify
There are two qualification paths:
Individual path: A Legion member who has hosted three or more monthly events in their city is eligible to submit a City Node application.
Group path: Three or more Vanguard-ranked Legion members can jointly apply after hosting at least one event together.
The application threshold is intentionally accessible. Selection is not. With 10 slots available globally, the Legion team will prioritize applicants who demonstrate independence, operational readiness, and a credible plan to build a sustained NEAR presence in their city—not just a track record of events.
The ultimate goal of the Legion City Node program is to identify talented individuals or teams around the world who can run a node on their own and grow a NEAR presence in their city. Once selected for a City Node, teams are free to run the node as they see fit. Every six months nodes are compared to one another and independently reviewed by the Legion team. Based on this review, further funds may be delegated or allocated to certain nodes to bolster their growth and development.
How to Apply
Applying for a City Node is straightforward: Fill out the application form after you’ve completed more than three events for the Legion or have hosted one event as a trio of Vanguards.
The Legion team will follow up with you if selected, and request your Validator Node Name. While many options exist for running a node on the NEAR network, the Legion team recommends Node Studio—a straightforward option for getting a NEAR validator node operational and securely within a few hours.
Why Legion City Nodes?
NEAR's technology stack—NEAR Intents for cross-chain execution, NEAR AI for confidential and verifiable AI infrastructure, and the base layer's 1M+ TPS scalability—is built for developers, enterprises, and users across the globe navigating the intersection of blockchain and AI.
Legion City Nodes put NEAR’s infrastructure within reach of local builder communities. These cities nodes will operate as pillars of the NEAR Ecosystem: providing co-working spaces for teams, events for new recruits, merch, books, and talks from NEAR leaders. The goal for 2026 is ten active City Nodes. Each one is a node on the network, a center for the local community, and a durable stake in the cities where NEAR is taking root.
Apply for a City Node Today
If you have been running Legion events in your city and are ready to operate a validator node, the application is now open. Fill out the form, and the Legion team will be in touch.
To learn more about the NEAR Legion and find events near you, visit nearlegion.com.