NEAR Price Rises 6% After Bitwise CEO Highlights AI, Business Upside

What happened

NEAR Protocol's native token rose 6.23% in the 24 hours ending October 8, reaching $5.38 and extending a 30-day rally of more than 130%. The price move followed public comments from Bitwise CEO Matt Hougan, who highlighted the network's existing operating business and AI agent ambitions as value drivers. Hougan pointed to NEAR Intents, the network's cross-chain trading system, which has processed more than $30 billion in cumulative volume, with 30-day volume passing $4 billion and 30-day revenue exceeding $2 million. The comments came after Bitwise launched the first U.S. spot NEAR ETF, which offers investors regulated access to the token and staking rewards.

Why it matters

Hougan's comments frame NEAR as a smaller-cap crypto asset with both a current revenue-generating business and longer-term AI-related upside, a combination he said is rare for assets of its size. The network's NEAR Intents system is designed to support transactions between AI agents as digital market activity shifts toward automated systems, with Bitwise describing the structure as a flywheel where increased AI agent usage drives more Intents activity, which in turn creates more settlement demand on NEAR Protocol. The network has also expanded into tokenized U.S. stocks and ETFs via a partnership with Ondo Finance, which uses NEAR Intents to provide cross-chain access to those assets. Trader and analyst Michaël van de Poppe said he expects another bullish breakout for NEAR, calling the current price structure bullish, and noted he would look to buy a dip if the price sweeps recent lows first.

What is still unclear

• No single catalyst has been identified for NEAR's recent price surge, as fund-flow data has not pointed to a specific cause for the rally.

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