Why did the price of NEAR go up?
NEAR Protocol (NEAR) jumped 41.3% in just 24 hours, fueled by growing cross-chain activity, a reduction in token inflation, and positive technical signals.
- NEAR Intents adoption – Cross-chain swaps surpassed $3 billion in volume and gained traction on social media.
- Inflation halving – Annual token issuance was cut from 5% to 2.5%, reducing supply pressure.
- Technical breakout – NEAR broke through the $2.00 resistance level, aiming for the $2.87 Fibonacci target.
Deep Dive
1. NEAR Intents Momentum (Positive Impact)
Overview: NEAR Intents is a protocol that allows different blockchains to interact seamlessly. It recently exceeded $3 billion in total swap volume, with daily trading jumping 329% to $1.25 billion. Collaborations with projects like Zashi Wallet (which focuses on private ZEC swaps) and integrations with blockchains like Aptos and Cardano have expanded its use cases.
What this means: More people and projects using NEAR’s technology means higher demand for NEAR tokens, since they’re needed to facilitate these cross-chain swaps.
What to watch: The upcoming integration with Litecoin (hinted by the ltc.omft.near smart contract) and whether daily swap volumes can stay above $1 billion.
2. Tokenomics Shift After Inflation Halving (Positive Impact)
Overview: On October 30, NEAR cut its annual inflation rate in half—from 5% down to 2.5%—after 80% of validators voted in favor. This means fewer new tokens are entering the market each year.
What this means: With fewer new tokens being created, there’s less selling pressure from staking rewards (now about 4.5% APR). This scarcity can help support the token’s price. This move is similar to Bitcoin’s halving events, which historically have led to price increases.
3. Technical Breakout (Mixed Impact)
Overview: NEAR’s price broke above the $2.00 resistance level, which now acts as support, and also surpassed its 200-day moving average at $2.55. Technical indicators like the MACD turned positive, and the RSI at 43.41 shows there’s room for the price to rise before it becomes overbought.
What this means: Traders are taking advantage of this upward momentum, but the next key resistance is at $2.87 (the 23.6% Fibonacci retracement level). If NEAR closes above $2.87, it could aim for $3.22, the recent swing high.
Conclusion
NEAR’s recent price surge is driven by growing use of its cross-chain technology, improved token supply dynamics, and strong technical signals. While the outlook is positive, the RSI of 43.86 suggests that price swings and volatility are still possible.
Key point to watch: Can NEAR maintain support above $2.65 (the 38.2% Fibonacci level) amid ongoing uncertainty in the broader crypto market, where Bitcoin has dropped 18% over the past month?
What could affect the price of NEAR?
NEAR Protocol’s price is currently caught between growing cross-chain activity and broader economic challenges.
- Cross-Chain Growth – NEAR Intents has handled over $570 million in transactions and is adding six new blockchain connections, including Litecoin, which could increase its usefulness.
- Inflation Cut – The yearly increase in NEAR tokens has been cut in half (from 5% to 2.5%), which might reduce selling pressure.
- AI Market Influence – The weak link between crypto and AI sectors (-33% this year) means NEAR could be vulnerable if interest in AI fades.
Deep Dive
1. Cross-Chain Utility Growth (Positive)
NEAR Intents is a tool that lets users swap tokens across different blockchains. Since July 2025, it has processed over $570 million in volume and plans to connect with Litecoin, Aptos, and Cardano by November. It has also partnered with big players like Bitwise (managing $12 billion) and Everclear ($1 billion volume) to attract institutional investors (Coinspeaker).
This growing activity could increase fee income (already $5.44 million since launch) and bring more users to NEAR. However, NEAR’s daily trading volume ($858 million) is about 27% of its total market value, indicating a lot of speculative trading, which can lead to price swings.
2. Tokenomics Change (Mixed)
In October 2025, NEAR cut its annual token inflation from 5% to 2.5%, meaning fewer new tokens are created each year. This should reduce the number of tokens being sold and help support the price. However, some network validators, like Chorus One, oppose this change because it could reduce their earnings and increase centralization risks (Yahoo Finance).
If adoption grows, the lower inflation could help prices rise, but disagreements among validators might affect network stability. Similar changes in other cryptocurrencies, like Ethereum’s EIP-1559, took months to show clear price effects.
3. Market and Sector Risks (Negative)
The crypto market is feeling pressure from tighter U.S. Federal Reserve policies, with the total market value dropping 19% in the past month. NEAR’s recent 41% one-day price jump happened alongside big gains in other altcoins like Zcash (+32%) and Filecoin (+101%), suggesting these moves are driven more by market momentum than fundamentals (The Defiant).
NEAR’s price closely follows Bitcoin’s (correlation of 0.84 over 30 days). If Bitcoin falls below $97,500, NEAR could see sharp sell-offs. On the upside, some AI-related tokens have held up well (like FET, up 23%), which might help if NEAR’s AI tools gain popularity.
Conclusion
NEAR’s near-term price gains depend on whether its cross-chain features can overcome broader market challenges. Key factors to watch include agreement among validators and Bitcoin’s ability to stay above $100,000. It remains to be seen if NEAR Intents can keep daily transaction volumes above $50 million once the initial excitement fades.
What are people saying about NEAR?
The NEAR Protocol (NEAR) community is divided between excitement about its technology and frustration over its price performance. Here’s what’s currently trending:
- Hopes for $10 price – Growing user base contrasts with stagnant price, sparking debate
- AI partnerships – Collaboration with Allora boosts long-term optimism
- Watching $3.50 resistance – Traders focus on a key price level for a potential breakout
- Inflation reduction vote – Validators consider cutting supply growth from 5% to 2.5%
Deep Dive
1. User Growth vs. Price Performance — Mixed Signals
According to Coinpedia, NEAR reached 42.3 million active addresses as of November 2025, showing strong user adoption. However, its price remains at $2.82, which is about 65% lower than its peak in 2024. Technical analysis suggests that if the price holds above $2, there’s potential for it to reach $10.
What this means: Despite more people using NEAR, the price hasn’t caught up yet. If NEAR breaks above $3.40, it could confirm a positive trend and attract more buyers.
2. AI Integration Boosts Confidence — Bullish Outlook
On social media, @NiphermeDave highlights a partnership between NEAR and Allora, which combines NEAR’s Shade Agents with Allora’s AI predictive technology. This positions NEAR as a bridge between blockchain (Web3) and artificial intelligence.
What this means: This collaboration could open new use cases for NEAR, making it more valuable in the long run. However, it may take time before these benefits are fully realized.
3. Key Price Level at $3.50 — Traders Watch Closely
Trader @cryptoking_nl notes that NEAR was rejected at $3.50 but is accumulating momentum for another attempt. A successful break above this level could lead to a quick price increase.
What this means: The $3.40 to $3.50 range is a critical resistance zone. If NEAR closes above it, automated trading systems might trigger more buying, pushing the price higher.
4. Inflation Cut Vote — Neutral Impact Expected
Validator voting is underway to reduce NEAR’s inflation rate from 5% to 2.5%, requiring a two-thirds majority by late Q3, according to @TTT_INSIGHTS.
What this means: Lower inflation means fewer new tokens entering the market, which could support the price. However, some validators worry that reduced rewards might discourage staking, potentially affecting network security.
Conclusion
Overall, the outlook for NEAR is cautiously optimistic. The excitement around AI partnerships and positive technical signals balances concerns about the price lagging behind user growth. Keep an eye on the $3.40-$3.50 resistance level—breaking above it could confirm a stronger upward trend, while failure might lead to testing support near $2.20. Additionally, the outcome of the inflation vote (track it live here: NEAR Governance) will play a key role in shaping NEAR’s future supply and price dynamics.
What is the latest news about NEAR?
NEAR Protocol is gaining momentum thanks to its cross-chain features and recent upgrades that reduce token supply, while AI-related tokens are performing well despite a weak market. Here are the key updates:
- NEAR Intents Hits $3 Billion in Volume (October 30, 2025) – Cross-chain swaps have jumped 232%, with over six new blockchains set to join soon.
- Inflation Cut in Half (October 29, 2025) – The annual release of new tokens is reduced to 2.5%, which should help ease selling pressure.
- Strong Performance in CoinDesk 20 Index (November 7, 2025) – NEAR’s price rose 12.9%, standing out as AI tokens bucked the overall market downturn.
Deep Dive
1. NEAR Intents Hits $3 Billion in Volume (October 30, 2025)
What happened:
Since December 2024, NEAR Intents has handled nearly $3 billion in cross-chain swaps, with $1.56 billion happening in just the last month. It now supports 124 different assets across more than 20 blockchains, including new connections with Zcash’s private swaps and Solana through Raydium.
Why it matters:
This growth is a positive sign for NEAR because it shows the platform is becoming a key player in decentralized finance (DeFi) that works across multiple blockchains. Over 470,000 unique users engaged in October, showing rising adoption. However, NEAR faces competition from other cross-chain projects like LayerZero and Axelar. (Coinspeaker)
2. Inflation Cut in Half (October 29, 2025)
What happened:
NEAR’s community voted to reduce the yearly creation of new tokens from 5% to 2.5%, effective immediately. This decision came after a three-month discussion balancing rewards for those who help secure the network with the overall supply of tokens.
Why it matters:
Cutting inflation means fewer new tokens enter the market, which can help increase the token’s value if demand stays steady or grows. NEAR’s circulating supply is already fully distributed, but lowering new issuance (now about 32 million NEAR per year instead of 64 million) may reduce selling pressure from staking rewards. Still, it’s important to watch how this affects incentives for validators who maintain the network. (Coinspeaker)
3. Strong Performance in CoinDesk 20 Index (November 7, 2025)
What happened:
On November 7, NEAR’s price jumped 12.9%, making it the only top-50 cryptocurrency to gain value that day, while Bitcoin dropped 3%. This rise coincided with strong performance from AI-related tokens like FET (+23%) and growing interest in NEAR’s Shade Agent AI tools.
Why it matters:
This shows NEAR is shifting its focus toward AI and agent-based technologies, which is attracting investor interest. Technical indicators suggest the token might be overbought, but breaking the $2.80 resistance level points to continued momentum. Still, broader market risks remain, especially with Bitcoin testing the $100,000 support level. (CoinDesk)
Conclusion
NEAR Protocol’s expanding cross-chain capabilities and pivot toward AI are helping it outperform the market despite overall weakness. With inflation cut in half and NEAR Intents volume accelerating, the project is making progress toward its goal of simplifying blockchain interactions. The big question now is whether NEAR can keep up this momentum if Bitcoin falls below $100,000. Keep an eye on AI token trends and upcoming blockchain integrations in November.
What is expected in the development of NEAR?
NEAR Protocol’s roadmap is focused on integrating artificial intelligence (AI), expanding connections between different blockchains, and improving the network’s ability to handle more users and transactions smoothly.
- Chain Abstraction via NEAR Intents (2025–2026) – Making it easier to swap assets and interact across multiple blockchains using AI.
- Shade Agent Infrastructure (Q1 2026) – Launching smart AI agents that can operate independently for tasks like decentralized finance (DeFi) and governance.
- Dynamic Sharding Phase 3 (2026) – Automatically adjusting network capacity to meet demand, allowing the system to grow efficiently.
Deep Dive
1. Chain Abstraction via NEAR Intents (2025–2026)
Overview: NEAR Intents is a new layer designed to simplify how users and AI agents interact across different blockchains. It acts like a universal translator for transactions, making cross-chain swaps and liquidity management easier. Recently, NEAR Intents has partnered with platforms like THORWallet, Router, and Zashi Swaps (which supports private ZEC transactions). As of October 2025, the protocol has handled over $3 billion in volume across more than 120 different assets.
What this means: This development is positive for NEAR’s usefulness, as it reduces the complexity of using multiple blockchains in decentralized finance (DeFi). However, there is competition from other similar technologies like Anoma that could affect its market position.
2. Shade Agent Infrastructure (Q1 2026)
Overview: Building on the Shade Agent Sandbox introduced in July 2025, this upgrade will let developers create AI agents that can perform complex tasks automatically, such as taking advantage of price differences across blockchains (arbitrage) or participating in governance decisions. NEAR is working with IQ AI to enable these AI agents to offer their services as tokenized assets through NEAR’s MCP framework.
What this means: This is an innovative step that could add value, but its success depends on whether these AI agents prove economically useful in real-world applications.
3. Dynamic Sharding Phase 3 (2026)
Overview: This final phase of NEAR’s sharding plan introduces a system that automatically creates or merges shards (smaller parts of the network) based on demand. This allows the network to scale horizontally without limits. This follows the rollout of 100 shards in 2023 and the 2025 Halving Upgrade, which capped inflation at 2.5% to promote sustainable growth.
What this means: This upgrade is promising for improving network efficiency and scalability in the long run. However, its success depends on smooth execution, as delays could affect the decentralization of network validators.
Conclusion
NEAR Protocol aims to become a leading platform for AI-powered, multi-blockchain applications. While its goals are ambitious, the key to success will be turning the growing number of active users (over 291,000 wallets as of September 2025) into consistent, real-world use cases. With increasing cross-chain activity and expanding AI features, 2026 could be the year NEAR moves from being just an infrastructure project to becoming a major ecosystem player.
What updates are there in the NEAR code base?
NEAR Protocol’s latest updates focus on controlling inflation, introducing AI-powered governance, and improving cross-chain compatibility.
- Halving Upgrade (October 31, 2025) – Annual inflation cut in half from 5% to 2.5%, approved by network validators.
- House of Stake Launch (October 31, 2025) – AI-driven tools introduced to help decentralized organizations (DAOs) and validators manage governance and coordination.
- Allora Integration (September 16, 2025) – Added AI-powered features to improve predictions for decentralized finance (DeFi) and cross-chain transactions.
Deep Dive
1. Halving Upgrade (October 31, 2025)
Overview: NEAR validators updated the network software to version nearcore v2.9.0, cutting the yearly token supply increase by half—from 5% down to 2.5%. This helps reduce the pressure to sell tokens and aligns incentives for long-term holders.
The upgrade also introduced “stateless validation,” meaning validators no longer need to store the entire blockchain history, making the system more efficient. Over 80% of staked NEAR tokens voted to approve these changes.
What this means: This is positive news for NEAR. Lower inflation can make tokens more scarce and valuable over time, encouraging people to hold onto their tokens. Validators benefit from lower costs, which could attract more participants to secure the network. (Source)
2. House of Stake Launch (October 31, 2025)
Overview: NEAR introduced AI-powered governance tools designed for DAOs—groups that make decisions collectively without centralized control. These tools automate proposal reviews and resource management using AI agents that can be verified on the blockchain.
The update also provides smart contract templates for delegating tasks and a reputation system to track AI delegate performance. Developers can create their own AI agents using NEAR’s Shade Agent SDK, which ensures transparent and auditable decision-making.
What this means: This update streamlines how DAOs and validators operate but its impact depends on how widely it’s adopted. It could speed up decision-making for projects and help validators manage their staking more effectively. (Source)
3. Allora Integration (September 16, 2025)
Overview: NEAR integrated Allora Network’s decentralized AI to enhance predictive models used in DeFi, especially for cross-chain swaps and lending.
Users can now create “intent-driven” transactions—meaning they specify what they want to achieve (like swapping tokens at the best price), and Allora’s AI figures out the best way to execute across multiple blockchains. This required updates to NEAR’s communication protocols and how transaction fees are calculated.
What this means: This is a strong positive for NEAR, as it improves the network’s ability to work seamlessly with other blockchains. This can attract DeFi users looking for better trading options and gives developers access to AI-powered data for building smarter decentralized apps. (Source)
Conclusion
NEAR’s recent updates focus on making the network more sustainable (through inflation reduction), smarter (with AI governance), and more connected (via cross-chain AI integration). These improvements position NEAR as a leading platform for AI-enhanced, cross-chain decentralized applications. The key question remains: will the lower inflation encourage more staking and growth despite challenges in the broader crypto market?