Why did the price of NEAR go up?

NEAR Protocol (NEAR) increased by 1.57% in the last 24 hours, slightly trailing the overall crypto market, which rose 2.44%. The main factors driving this movement include advancements in AI technology, growing use across different blockchains, and signs of technical recovery.

1. AI Leadership Boost – NEAR hired new executives to speed up development of AI-focused tools.
2. Cross-Chain Momentum – The NEAR Intents protocol reached $1.8 billion in total swap volume, improving connections between blockchains.
3. Technical Rebound – NEAR’s price stabilized near an important support level at $2.31.

Deep Dive

1. AI Ecosystem Expansion (Positive Outlook)

Overview: On October 15, the NEAR Foundation brought in AI-focused leaders, including George Zeng, formerly of Bloomberg and Digital Currency Group, as Chief Product Officer. This move supports NEAR’s goal to become a center for privacy-focused, AI-powered decentralized applications.

What this means: Interest from institutions in combining AI with blockchain technology is growing. Projects like Shade Agent Sandbox allow developers to create AI agents that can be independently verified. NEAR’s focus on this area positions it well to meet the rising demand for decentralized AI infrastructure, a trend expected to grow in 2025.

What to watch: Adoption rates of NEAR’s AI Copilot tool and partnerships with AI data providers such as Shelby.

2. Cross-Chain Adoption Surge (Positive Outlook)

Overview: NEAR Intents, a protocol that allows swapping assets across different blockchains, processed $1.8 billion in total volume by October 8. Integrations with TRON and Sui blockchains are now live, and daily swap volume increased by 27.6% week-over-week (source).

What this means: Making it easier for users and developers to interact across multiple blockchains encourages more activity and liquidity. For example, NEAR’s recent integration with idOS Network simplified creating wallets that work on multiple blockchains, likely increasing network use.

What to watch: Whether daily swap volume stays above $20 million and if new blockchains like Cardano and Aptos are added.

3. Technical Resilience (Mixed Outlook)

Overview: After a 13.84% drop last week, NEAR’s price found support near the 61.8% Fibonacci retracement level at $2.31. The Relative Strength Index (RSI) is neutral at 38.93, but there are still bearish signals from the MACD indicator.

What this means: Short-term traders might be taking advantage of the price being oversold, but the 30-day simple moving average (SMA) at $2.69 remains a significant resistance level. If NEAR’s price closes above $2.40, it could indicate a shift toward upward momentum.

What to watch: Trading volume trends—current 24-hour volume is $186 million, which is below the 30-day average.

Conclusion

NEAR’s recent gains reflect strategic moves into AI infrastructure and cross-chain functionality, though technical challenges remain. The ecosystem’s growth, including 291,000 active wallets, supports its long-term potential. However, the token is still sensitive to overall market trends, especially during periods when altcoins are underperforming.

Key points to monitor: Can NEAR maintain support above $2.30 with increasing trading volume? Will Bitcoin’s dominance at 58.94% limit NEAR’s momentum? Keep an eye on NEAR Intents’ swap activity and the rollout of AI agent tools.

What could affect the price of NEAR?

NEAR’s price outlook depends on how well it adopts AI, gains traction in decentralized finance (DeFi), and navigates changing regulations.

1. AI Integration (Positive) – New executive hires and NEAR Intents’ $1.8 billion swap volume show growing AI-related use.
2. Layer-1 Competition (Mixed) – BNB Chain leads with 58.9 million users, while NEAR has 50.3 million, highlighting the need to stand out.
3. Regulatory Risks (Negative) – Unclear crypto rules in the UK and EU could slow adoption if not resolved soon.

Deep Dive

1. AI Product Expansion (Positive Impact)

Overview:
NEAR recently hired George Zeng, formerly of Bloomberg, as Chief Product Officer to develop AI-focused tools like Shade Agent Sandbox. This platform allows AI agents to operate transparently on the blockchain. NEAR Intents has handled $1.8 billion in swaps as of July 2025 and works with Sui, which holds $2 billion in total value locked (TVL), improving AI-related liquidity across blockchains.

What this means:
Building AI infrastructure attracts developers creating autonomous agents, which could increase transactions on NEAR. For example, when Bitwise launched a NEAR staking exchange-traded product (ETP), the price jumped 7.6% in July 2025 (Bitwise).

2. Layer-1 Market Share Battle (Mixed Impact)

Overview:
BNB Chain leads with 58.9 million users, followed by NEAR with 50.3 million. NEAR faces competition from Solana (37.3 million users) and Ethereum Layer 2 solutions. NEAR’s technology is fast, with 1.2-second finality and 600-millisecond block times, outperforming many competitors. However, its transaction turnover rate (6.7%) is lower than BNB’s 10.2%.

What this means:
NEAR’s speed may attract decentralized finance (DeFi) apps that require quick transactions, but overall market caution (altcoin season index at 26/100) means investors are still wary. NEAR needs standout decentralized apps (dApps) to keep growing (BNB Chain).

3. Regulatory Headwinds (Negative Impact)

Overview:
In October 2025, Federal Reserve Governor Barr called for more oversight on stablecoins. Meanwhile, the UK faces “regulatory inertia,” according to Nick Clegg, which could delay institutional crypto adoption. NEAR depends heavily on cross-chain stablecoins, with over $700 million supplied through Rhea, which may face compliance challenges.

What this means:
Stricter regulations could slow NEAR’s DeFi growth. However, BitGo’s support for NEAR-native stablecoins might help with compliance. Keep an eye on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) decisions regarding NEAR-related ETF filings (MEXC).

Conclusion

NEAR’s focus on AI and its fast network give it a strong position for future growth. However, regulatory challenges and competition from other blockchains limit its upside potential. The key question: can NEAR Intents’ $21.8 million daily swap volume (as of September 2025) overcome broader market fears? Watch for developer activity and ETF news in the fourth quarter.

What are people saying about NEAR?

The NEAR Protocol (NEAR) community is showing a mix of cautious optimism and technical concerns. Here’s what’s currently trending:

1. Excitement over AI integration
2. Key price support at $2.45 under close watch
3. Debate over proposed inflation reduction

In-Depth Look

1. AI Integration Boosts Confidence

@NiphermeDave reports that AlloraNetwork’s AI technology is now part of NEAR’s infrastructure, improving its Shade Agent system for AI agents that work across different blockchains.
This is positive news for NEAR because it could attract more developers to build autonomous applications (dApps) on NEAR, thanks to its low transaction fees and ability to scale efficiently.
See original post

2. Price Support at $2.45 Sparks Hope

@gemxbt_agent notes that NEAR is testing a critical support level at $2.45. Technical indicators like the Relative Strength Index (RSI) are moving out of oversold territory, and the Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) hints at a potential upward trend. However, trading volume remains low, which raises questions about whether this momentum will last.
This suggests a cautiously optimistic outlook, but traders are watching closely for confirmation.
See original post

3. Inflation Reduction Proposal Causes Division

@DWF_Labs has called for NEAR to cut its inflation rate from 5% to 2.5%. They have warned they might sell their holdings if this change isn’t made.
This has created tension within the community. Some stakers worry about lower rewards, while long-term holders believe reducing inflation could lessen selling pressure and support price stability.
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4. Technical Risks Highlighted

@UniChartz points out that NEAR is struggling to stay above an $8 trendline, and if it falls below $2.20, it could see a further drop of about 30%. The overall chart shows a downward trend since early 2025, although large investors (“whales”) seem to be buying at lower prices.
This signals caution from a technical perspective.
See original post

Summary

The outlook for NEAR is mixed. On one hand, new AI partnerships and a growing ecosystem highlight its potential. On the other, technical charts and debates over inflation create uncertainty. A key event to watch is the upcoming validator vote on inflation cuts expected in late 2025. If approved, this could reduce annual selling pressure by about $70 million but may also test the loyalty of those staking NEAR tokens.

What is the latest news about NEAR?

NEAR Protocol is advancing in AI development and expanding its cross-chain capabilities, even as the market remains cautious. Here are the latest highlights:

1. New AI Leadership Appointments (October 15, 2025) – NEAR brings in top executives to focus on privacy-centered AI products.
2. NEAR Partners with idOS Network (October 12, 2025) – Enables privacy-first wallet creation using a single identity across multiple blockchains.
3. StableFlow Launches Cross-Chain Stablecoin Swaps (October 9, 2025) – Offers low-cost stablecoin exchanges across nine blockchains through NEAR Intents.

In-Depth Look

1. New AI Leadership Appointments (October 15, 2025)

Summary:
The NEAR Foundation has hired key executives, including George Zeng (formerly at Bloomberg) as Chief Product Officer and Matt Kummell (from Digital Currency Group) as Chief Business Officer. Their goal is to speed up the creation of privacy-focused AI tools and decentralized AI infrastructure.

Why it matters:
This move strengthens NEAR’s position as a leader in combining AI with blockchain technology, supporting its vision of "user-owned AI." Bringing in experienced professionals could help attract business partnerships, though challenges remain given the unpredictable nature of the AI industry. (Binance News)

2. NEAR Partners with idOS Network (October 12, 2025)

Summary:
NEAR now supports idOS, a decentralized identity system that lets users create wallets on multiple blockchains using one identity. This integration focuses on protecting user data and giving users control over their information.

Why it matters:
This enhances NEAR’s ability to work across different blockchains and improves privacy features, which could attract developers building applications that work on multiple networks. However, success depends on competing with existing identity solutions like ENS. (zorooweb3)

3. StableFlow Launches Cross-Chain Stablecoin Swaps (October 9, 2025)

Summary:
DapDap introduced StableFlow, a platform that allows users to swap stablecoins across Ethereum, Solana, NEAR, and six other blockchains. It uses NEAR Intents technology and charges very low fees (0.01%) for swaps up to $1 million.

Why it matters:
This highlights NEAR’s technology that works across different blockchains, helping to increase liquidity and ease of use. The platform’s success will depend on maintaining high trading volumes and how competitors like LayerZero respond. (Yahoo Finance)

Conclusion

NEAR is focusing heavily on AI, privacy, and cross-chain features, but overall market caution (CMC Fear & Greed Index at 30) is slowing momentum. The big question is whether these efforts will drive more developer activity beyond the current 50.3 million monthly users or if broader economic challenges will delay wider adoption.

What is expected in the development of NEAR?

NEAR Protocol is making significant progress with these key updates:

1. Shade Agent Sandbox (July 2025) – A new platform for developers to create and run AI-powered agents on NEAR’s network.
2. NEAR Intents Cross-Chain Expansion (Ongoing) – Supports over 100 digital assets and connects with blockchains like TRON and Sui.
3. House of Stake AI Governance (October 2025) – Introduces AI tools to help decentralized organizations make decisions more efficiently.
4. Validator Growth Program (October 2025) – A program to bring in new network validators through Meta Pool’s Node Studio.

Deep Dive

1. Shade Agent Sandbox (July 2025)

What it is: Launched in July 2025, this sandbox lets developers build AI agents called Shade Agents that can operate independently on NEAR’s blockchain. These agents can carry out tasks like executing contracts, trading digital assets, and interacting with other blockchains.
Why it matters: This is a positive step for NEAR because it combines artificial intelligence with blockchain technology, encouraging developers to create smart applications. However, the technology is complex, and getting widespread use could take time.

2. NEAR Intents Cross-Chain Expansion (Ongoing)

What it is: NEAR Intents is a protocol that allows users to swap assets across different blockchains without being tied to one specific chain. It has added support for blockchains like Sui, TRON, and Zcash, handling $1.8 billion in transactions by October 2025. The goal is to connect more than 30 blockchains by the end of the year (TTT_INSIGHTS).
Why it matters: This improves NEAR’s ability to work with other blockchain networks, making it easier for users to move assets around. Still, there’s strong competition from other cross-chain solutions like LayerZero, which could affect NEAR’s market share.

3. House of Stake AI Governance (October 2025)

What it is: NEAR has introduced AI-powered delegates to help decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) automate voting and resource management. Meta Pool developed a prototype called AI Copilot for this purpose.
Why it matters: This could make governance more efficient and less time-consuming. However, some may worry that relying on AI could lead to centralization or reduce transparency.

4. Validator Growth Program (October 2025)

What it is: Meta Pool’s Node Studio Cohort 2 is offering funding and training to onboard 60 new validators—participants who help secure and maintain the NEAR network. Applications close on October 24, 2025 (TTT_INSIGHTS).
Why it matters: More validators mean a stronger, more decentralized network, which is good for security. The program’s success depends on how many qualified validators join.

Conclusion

NEAR Protocol is focusing on blending AI with blockchain, expanding cross-chain capabilities, and improving decentralized governance. By providing tools like Shade Agents and partnering with institutions such as Bitwise for staking products, NEAR is positioning itself as a key player in the multi-chain future of Web3. The big question is whether NEAR’s AI-driven approach will help it attract the next generation of blockchain users faster than other Layer 1 platforms.

What updates are there in the NEAR code base?

NEAR Protocol’s latest updates focus on making the network faster, more scalable, and smarter by integrating AI tools.

1. Resharding V3 & Cross-Shard Upgrades (March 2025) – Improved scalability by allowing flexible shard configurations and better handling of transactions across shards.
2. 1.2-Second Finality Upgrade (May 2025) – Transactions now finalize in just 1.2 seconds, faster than Ethereum and Solana.
3. AI Governance & Agent Tools (October 2025) – Introduced AI-powered tools for managing decentralized organizations and cross-chain transactions.

Deep Dive

1. Resharding V3 & Cross-Shard Upgrades (March 2025)

What happened: NEAR released version 2.5.0, which includes Resharding V3. This lets the network adjust the number of shards (smaller parts of the blockchain) dynamically—from 6 up to 8 shards. It also added a scheduler to better manage transactions that happen between these shards.

This upgrade helps the network handle more transactions at once by improving how it processes cross-shard activity, which reduces delays for apps like decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms and NFT marketplaces. Validators (the network’s transaction verifiers) now treat shards as flexible identifiers instead of fixed account groups. During this upgrade, nodes temporarily needed more memory (64GB RAM) to handle the changes.

Why it matters: This is a positive development for NEAR because it supports higher transaction volumes without sacrificing decentralization. Developers will find it easier to build apps that work smoothly across different shards.
(Source)

2. 1.2-Second Finality Upgrade (May 2025)

What happened: NEAR shortened its block time to 600 milliseconds and achieved transaction finality in 1.2 seconds using an improved consensus method called Doomslug v2.

Finality means the point at which a transaction is confirmed and cannot be reversed. For comparison, Solana takes about 12 seconds, and Ethereum can take up to 12 minutes. NEAR’s upgrade means transactions are confirmed almost instantly without compromising security or decentralization. This improvement came from software optimizations rather than new hardware.

Why it matters: Faster finality improves user experience for activities like token swaps, gaming, and AI-powered applications. It makes NEAR competitive with traditional web platforms in terms of speed.
(Source)

3. AI Governance & Agent Tools (October 2025)

What happened: NEAR launched Shade Agent Sandbox and AI-driven governance tools. These allow developers to create AI agents that can participate in decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) voting and manage liquidity across multiple blockchains.

These AI tools work with NEAR Intents, a system that has already processed $1.8 billion in swaps across more than 30 blockchains. The House of Stake initiative also introduced AI delegates to help automate resource management in governance.

Why it matters: AI automation reduces complexity in decentralized decision-making and positions NEAR as a leader in cross-chain decentralized finance (DeFi).
(Source)

Conclusion

NEAR Protocol’s recent updates focus on scaling the network for widespread use, speeding up transaction finality for real-time applications, and integrating AI tools to improve decentralized governance. With these sharding and cross-chain improvements now live, the big question is whether NEAR can keep attracting developers as interest in alternative cryptocurrencies grows.