Shipping Firm OceanPal Adds AI Arm With $120M PIPE Deal, Eyes 10% of NEAR Supply

OceanPal Inc. (OP), a shipping company best known for transporting dry bulk and petroleum products, said it plans to pivot into artificial intelligence infrastructure by building confidential AI cloud services on the Near Protocol blockchain.

The Athens-based company said it closed a $120 million private investment in public equity (PIPE) deal to launch SovereignAI, a wholly owned subsidiary. SovereignAI will serve as a public-market vehicle for exposure to NEAR, a blockchain platform designed for AI applications, according to a press release shared with CoinDesk. OceanPal will continue to operate its shipping business, which posted a first-half net loss of $10.4 million.

While many companies have adopted a digital asset treasury strategy based on accumulating the best-known cryptocurrencies, such as bitcoin BTC$89,370.33 and ether ETH$3,046.38, SovereignAI will be the first focused on Near Protocol's NEAR tokens. The company aims to acquire 10% of the token’s supply over time.

The company’s shares, which traded on Nasdaq, fell more than 20% on Tuesday and were trading recently at $1.73. They were priced as high as $79 in June.

SovereignAI, which will be advised by a group of industry figures, aims to leverage its infrastructure to enable user-owned AI and autonomous agent commerce.

“Our strategy goes beyond treasury management to actively build the infrastructure enabling user-owned, privacy-preserving AI at scale,” David Schwed, OceanPal's chief operating officer, said in the statement. “NEAR Protocol’s architecture provides the trust, security and economic alignment necessary to realize true AI sovereignty and unlock the next generation of autonomous agent commerce.”

The advisory board will be chaired by Near Foundation co-founder Illia Polosukhin and include key figures from OpenAI, Quicknode and Fabric Ventures. Backers of the transaction include Kraken, Proximity and G20 Group.