Key Highlights
- NEAR Protocol has surged more than 90% over the last 30 days, currently trading near $2.80.
- Arthur Hayes, BitMEX co-founder, publicly endorsed NEAR as part of his top three altcoin selections on social media.
- The protocol’s cross-chain Intents feature has facilitated over $19 billion in transaction volume with $32 million in accumulated fees.
- Dynamic resharding capabilities are set to launch in a network upgrade planned for June 2026.
- Bitwise’s European NEAR Staking ETP has accumulated approximately $40 million in managed assets.
NEAR Protocol’s native token has experienced remarkable momentum throughout the past month. The asset has approximately doubled in valuation, posting a roughly 90% gain to reach the $2.80 level. This explosive movement has captured the attention of market participants who had largely overlooked the token during its previous period of subdued activity.
The pivotal moment that sparked widespread interest came through a social media statement from Arthur Hayes, the co-founder of BitMEX and managing partner of Maelstrom family office. Hayes shared on X that $HYPE, $ZEC, and $NEAR constitute what he termed his “holy trinity” of alternative cryptocurrency selections. His commentary included: “When you are in position, trading is easy, sit back and watch the number go up.”
Following Hayes’ public endorsement, NEAR experienced an immediate 30% price spike. The upward trajectory has persisted, with the token momentarily reaching $2.30 before advancing further. While Hyperliquid and Zcash also benefited from the mention, neither matched the magnitude of NEAR’s price appreciation.
Cryptocurrency analyst Sjuul from AltCryptoGems highlighted this momentum on X, noting that NEAR “has been trading in beast mode lately, really outperforming the rest of the market by far.” His technical analysis identified what he characterized as a “massive power of 3 setup” on the charts, indicating potential for continued appreciation provided current support levels hold.
Cross-Chain Intents Generate Substantial Transaction Volume
Beyond market enthusiasm, concrete platform utility supports the price appreciation. NEAR Intents represents the protocol’s cross-chain transaction infrastructure. This system enables users to specify desired outcomes — such as converting USDC on Ethereum into SOL on Solana — while independent solver networks execute the transactions.
Data from DefiLlama indicates that NEAR Intents has facilitated more than $19 billion in aggregate transaction volume while generating approximately $32 million in protocol fees. This substantial activity has repositioned the protocol in market consciousness following an extended period of muted price action.
Institutional adoption has accelerated concurrently. The Bitwise NEAR Staking ETP, available to European investors, has accumulated approximately $40 million in assets under management. The product recorded $7 million in net inflows during a single seven-day period.
Upcoming Network Enhancement Targets Scalability
Market participants are monitoring a significant network upgrade scheduled for June 2026. This update will implement dynamic resharding technology, enabling automatic shard division as network demand intensifies. The architecture aims to preserve performance during high-utilization periods without requiring manual adjustments.
Hayes’ investment rationale appears aligned with this technical development roadmap. He has positioned NEAR as a scalability-focused investment, alongside Hyperliquid for decentralized exchange infrastructure and Zcash for privacy-preserving transactions.
Despite the recent surge, NEAR remains significantly below its 2022 all-time high near $20. As of this writing, the token trades around $2.80, reflecting a gain exceeding 90% across the previous 30-day period.
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