NEAR enters crypto's top 20 after 138% rise in 30 days

What happened

NEAR Protocol's native token moved into the top 20 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization on Thursday after a 30-day rise that Cointelegraph put at $138%, citing CoinGecko. At the time of writing, NEAR traded around $5.51, up about 7% over 24 hours, with a market cap of about $7.2 billion and roughly $1.2 billion in 24-hour volume. It ranks ahead of Stellar (XLM), which has a market cap of nearly $7 billion.

CryptoPotato reported that NEAR pushed into the top 20 this week after posting around 125% gains in the last 30 days before correcting. The same report said NEAR rose 198% in the third quarter, ahead of Bitcoin and Ethereum.

The ranking move follows the Sept. 29 launch of the first US spot exchange-traded product tracking the token. The Bitwise fund trades on NYSE Arca under the ticker NRR, and CryptoPotato reported Coinbase Custody as custodian.

NEAR Intents, a cross-chain trading protocol, has handled over $31 billion in cumulative transaction volume, according to the NEAR Intents Explorer. CryptoPotato put cumulative volume above $30 billion.

NEAR Intents also suffered a $3.8 million exploit involving its deposit and withdrawal infrastructure. CryptoPotato reported that the incident forced the platform to pause services and suspend deposits and withdrawals across several blockchains, and that the vulnerability has since been patched. On Oct. 2, General Manager Alex Shevchenko said all stolen funds had been returned, a day after the breach was disclosed.

Why it matters

Bitwise chief investment officer Matt Hougan said NEAR stands out because its AI vision is backed by a business that already generates activity and revenue. He said NEAR Intents is on track to generate around $45 million in fees this year, with some fees returned to tokenholders through buybacks.

The main criticism is that NEAR is not actually being used mainly by AI agents today and its users are still mostly humans. Hougan said NEAR is still positioned to do well even if AI agents never become a big deal.

"Even if AI agents never become a big deal, or if NEAR doesn't capture all of that opportunity, I think NEAR is still positioned to do well," he wrote.

The Bitwise fund offers investors exposure to NEAR without directly holding the crypto. The exploit at NEAR Intents also shows the operational risks around deposits and withdrawals, which were suspended during the incident.

What the data shows

NEAR's market cap of about $7.2 billion puts it ahead of Stellar (XLM) at nearly $7 billion. NEAR Intents has handled over $31 billion in cumulative volume, with around $45 million in fees expected this year. The exploit at the protocol cost $3.8 million.

Background

NEAR calls itself "the blockchain for AI" and aims to become infrastructure for AI agents that transact with each other and interact with the wider world. NEAR Intents lets users move across crypto networks without the usual complexity of wallets, bridges and exchanges, with market-making bots known as solvers handling transactions behind the scenes.

What is still unclear

• The two reports give different 30-day gains: Cointelegraph cited $138%, while CryptoPotato reported around 125%.
• Cumulative volume for NEAR Intents is stated as over $31 billion by one report and more than $30 billion by the other.
• It is not clear how much of NEAR's activity will come from AI agents, as CryptoPotato reported that users are still mostly humans.

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