Key Takeaways
- • Bitwise launched NRR, the first US spot ETF for NEAR protocol, attracting over $10 million in daily inflows across its first three sessions with trading volumes between $10–$20 million.
- • NEAR's market capitalization stands at approximately $5 billion, which Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsley characterizes as "probably a tenth" of average valuations for comparable AI platforms with commercial traction.
- • NEAR Intents has processed over $32 billion in transaction volume; the protocol's net revenue now funds open-market token buybacks held in a permanent capital vehicle rather than token burns.
- • Horsley and Sal Ternullo (Sovereign) frame NEAR's positioning as a simplifying force within a fragmented future of multiple AI models, agents, Layer 1 blockchains, and stablecoins.
- • A pending governance proposal would reduce NEAR's inflation rate from 2.5% to 1.6% over two years, though research into fixed supply mechanisms remains inconclusive; leadership cautions against premature "deflationary" characterization.
Summary
Bitwise Asset Management has opened institutional access to NEAR protocol through NRR, a spot ETF launched on a US exchange. The vehicle generated strong early momentum, pulling in more than $10 million daily across its first three trading sessions, with volumes consistently in the $10–$20 million range. According to Hunter Horsley, Bitwise's CEO, and Sal Ternullo, who leads Sovereign—a NEAR-focused investment vehicle—the ETF represents an entry point to a larger thesis around blockchain infrastructure and AI workloads.
The core investment argument centers on NEAR's economics and positioning within fragmented markets. NEAR Intents, the protocol's intent-solving layer, has processed more than $32 billion in cumulative volume. Critically, the protocol's net revenue now funds open-market repurchases of NEAR tokens, which are held in a permanent capital vehicle rather than burned—a structural difference from traditional deflationary mechanisms. However, Horsley and Ternullo emphasize that calling NEAR deflationary remains premature. A governance proposal to reduce inflation from 2.5% to 1.6% over two years is pending approval, and ongoing research into implementing a fixed supply has yielded no definitive answer.
Horsley's valuation thesis frames NEAR at its roughly $5 billion market capitalization as "probably a tenth" of the average valuation assigned to AI platforms demonstrating commercial traction. The argument assumes a multi-agent, multi-model AI future requiring diverse Layer 1 infrastructure and stablecoin optionality. Ternullo extends this logic to enterprise adoption, predicting that privacy-guaranteeing architecture will become mandatory for AI workloads within two to three years—positioning NEAR's technical approach as foundational to that requirement. Together, the framing suggests NEAR's current valuation may underweight its role as a coordinating layer in a decentralized, multi-blockchain AI ecosystem.
The core investment argument centers on NEAR's economics and positioning within fragmented markets. NEAR Intents, the protocol's intent-solving layer, has processed more than $32 billion in cumulative volume. Critically, the protocol's net revenue now funds open-market repurchases of NEAR tokens, which are held in a permanent capital vehicle rather than burned—a structural difference from traditional deflationary mechanisms. However, Horsley and Ternullo emphasize that calling NEAR deflationary remains premature. A governance proposal to reduce inflation from 2.5% to 1.6% over two years is pending approval, and ongoing research into implementing a fixed supply has yielded no definitive answer.
Horsley's valuation thesis frames NEAR at its roughly $5 billion market capitalization as "probably a tenth" of the average valuation assigned to AI platforms demonstrating commercial traction. The argument assumes a multi-agent, multi-model AI future requiring diverse Layer 1 infrastructure and stablecoin optionality. Ternullo extends this logic to enterprise adoption, predicting that privacy-guaranteeing architecture will become mandatory for AI workloads within two to three years—positioning NEAR's technical approach as foundational to that requirement. Together, the framing suggests NEAR's current valuation may underweight its role as a coordinating layer in a decentralized, multi-blockchain AI ecosystem.
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