Key Takeaways
- • Bitwise's NEAR ETF (NRR), launched on NYSE Arca on September 29, drew $35.5 million in net inflows on its first day, according to CEO Hunter Horsley, and held about 12.3 million NEAR worth roughly $65.4 million as of early October.
- • NEAR traded near $5.30 after a roughly 125% to 135% gain over 30 days, with its market cap briefly overtaking Stellar at $6.91 billion versus $7.03 billion per CoinMarketCap.
- • The NRR fund charges a 0.75% sponsor fee and stakes nearly all holdings, advertising a gross staking rate of 4.91% and a net rate of 3.29%.
- • NEAR Intents, a cross-chain protocol that has processed over $31 billion in cumulative volume, feeds fees into buybacks that funded $1.9 million against roughly $13 million of newly issued NEAR over the last 30 days.
- • A $3.8 million exploit of NEAR Intents' Omni deposit-and-withdrawal system was reversed, with stolen funds returned in full as of October 2, per Cryptopolitan.
Summary
NEAR Protocol has rallied sharply over the past 30 days, with the token trading near $5.30 and up roughly 125% to 135% over that window, according to CoinGecko and CoinMarketCap data cited by Cryptopolitan. The token's recovery from $3.59 on September 19 remains well below its all-time high of $20.44.
The rally is attributed largely to the Bitwise NEAR ETF (NRR), which began trading on NYSE Arca on September 29 and is billed as the first spot NEAR fund in the United States. The product charges a 0.75% sponsor fee, stakes nearly all of its holdings, and advertises a gross staking rate of 4.91% and a net rate of 3.29%. Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsley said the fund drew $35.5 million in net inflows on its first day. As of early October, the trust held about 12.3 million NEAR worth roughly $65.4 million. Bitwise is marketing the product as an artificial-intelligence play, positioning NEAR as infrastructure for AI agents that transact on users' behalf.
Bitwise's bullish case centers on NEAR Intents, a cross-chain protocol in which independent market makers, called solvers, compete to fill user trades. The protocol has processed more than $31 billion in cumulative volume. Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan described the business as "already here," while Horsley told Bankless that NEAR "might be the cheapest thing you've ever seen in your life." Per the reporting, a fee switch activated in February routes NEAR's share of Intents fees into open-market buybacks. Over the last 30 days, that mechanism funded $1.9 million in buybacks against roughly $13 million of newly issued NEAR at current prices.
The rally has persisted despite a security incident in which an attacker exploited a bug in NEAR Intents' Omni deposit-and-withdrawal system for about $3.8 million. According to Cryptopolitan, the funds were returned in full as of October 2 after general manager Alex Shevchenko opened an encrypted channel with the attacker and set a 48-hour deadline. Co-founder Illia Polosukhin said the damage was limited to USDT on the BNB Smart Chain and did not affect the NEAR token or core protocol. Separately, NEAR Intents' SHIELD risk layer reportedly blocked nearly all of more than $50 million attempted by hackers linked to the roughly $387.5 million Bitget breach, with only about $166,000 getting through.
The rally is attributed largely to the Bitwise NEAR ETF (NRR), which began trading on NYSE Arca on September 29 and is billed as the first spot NEAR fund in the United States. The product charges a 0.75% sponsor fee, stakes nearly all of its holdings, and advertises a gross staking rate of 4.91% and a net rate of 3.29%. Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsley said the fund drew $35.5 million in net inflows on its first day. As of early October, the trust held about 12.3 million NEAR worth roughly $65.4 million. Bitwise is marketing the product as an artificial-intelligence play, positioning NEAR as infrastructure for AI agents that transact on users' behalf.
Bitwise's bullish case centers on NEAR Intents, a cross-chain protocol in which independent market makers, called solvers, compete to fill user trades. The protocol has processed more than $31 billion in cumulative volume. Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan described the business as "already here," while Horsley told Bankless that NEAR "might be the cheapest thing you've ever seen in your life." Per the reporting, a fee switch activated in February routes NEAR's share of Intents fees into open-market buybacks. Over the last 30 days, that mechanism funded $1.9 million in buybacks against roughly $13 million of newly issued NEAR at current prices.
The rally has persisted despite a security incident in which an attacker exploited a bug in NEAR Intents' Omni deposit-and-withdrawal system for about $3.8 million. According to Cryptopolitan, the funds were returned in full as of October 2 after general manager Alex Shevchenko opened an encrypted channel with the attacker and set a 48-hour deadline. Co-founder Illia Polosukhin said the damage was limited to USDT on the BNB Smart Chain and did not affect the NEAR token or core protocol. Separately, NEAR Intents' SHIELD risk layer reportedly blocked nearly all of more than $50 million attempted by hackers linked to the roughly $387.5 million Bitget breach, with only about $166,000 getting through.
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