NEAR Protocol’s token experienced a significant increase of 15% within a 24-hour period, reaching a value of $2.8. This rise is part of a broader upward trend, with the token’s price doubling over the past month.
The surge in NEAR’s value coincides with the success of NEAR Intents, a cross-chain transaction system that enables users to request specific outcomes, such as exchanging USDC on Ethereum for SOL on Solana. This system operates with third-party solvers executing the transactions behind the scenes.
According to data from DefiLlama, NEAR Intents has processed over $19 billion in total volume and generated approximately $32 million in fees. These metrics have attracted renewed interest in the protocol following a period of stagnant price movement.
The rally was further fueled by comments from Arthur Hayes, co-founder of BitMEX, who referred to NEAR, Hyperliquid’s HYPE, and ZEC as part of crypto’s “holy trinity” in a social media post, indicating that there is still potential for further price increases.
In addition to the recent price gains, NEAR has benefited from a broader market trend where traders have shifted their focus back to tokens associated with artificial intelligence and blockchain infrastructure. Institutional interest has also been on the rise, evidenced by the Bitwise NEAR Staking ETP in Europe, which has accumulated around $40 million in assets under management, including $7 million in inflows within a single week.
Looking ahead, investors are keenly anticipating a network upgrade scheduled for June that will introduce dynamic resharding. This upgrade aims to automatically adjust network shards in response to demand, potentially enhancing scalability during peak usage times.
Despite the recent gains, NEAR’s current price remains significantly lower than its peak of nearly $20 in 2022. The NEAR Protocol is a layer-1 blockchain that emphasizes applications, AI infrastructure, and cross-chain transactions, utilizing a proof-of-stake model to facilitate interactions across different blockchains while managing high volumes of activity through sharding.
NEAR Protocol's token has surged significantly, driven by the success of its cross-chain system, NEAR Intents, which has processed over $19 billion. The upcoming network upgrade and increased institutional interest further contribute to the token's rally, despite still being below its 2022 peak.