Bitwise Launches First US Spot ETF for NEAR Protocol

Bitwise has launched its first U.S. spot ETF tracking NEAR Protocol (NEAR), called NRR, on the NYSE Arca exchange. The fund reported $35.5 million in net inflows and $15.1 million in trading volume on its first day of trading, with assets under management totaling $36 million.

The Bitwise NEAR ETF has a 0.75% annual management fee, which translates to about $7.50 per year for every $1,000 invested before other expenses. The fund plans to stake a substantial portion of its NEAR holdings in-house, targeting participation in rewards near the network's roughly 5% current annual rate.

Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsley tied the fund to the company's view that AI agents will increasingly transact and coordinate independently across digital services. He described what Bitwise calls an emerging agentic economy, centered on NEAR Intents, a system that lets users or AI agents request transactions while competing third-party solvers handle execution across different blockchains.