NEAR ETF Launches in US with Innovative Staking Rewards Feature
Bitwise has launched the first exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the US offering direct spot exposure to NEAR, a blockchain platform that aims to make it easier to develop and deploy decentralized applications. The Bitwise NEAR ETF began trading on NYSE Arca under the ticker NRR on September 29 with an initial management fee of 0.75 percent.
The fund's unique feature is its plan to pass staking rewards earned on its assets directly to investors, adding exposure not only to NEAR's price movements but also to staking rewards. According to Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsley, the company focuses on the AI economy and sees NEAR as building a platform for this transformation.
NEAR Protocol uses a proof-of-stake mechanism to validate transactions, and at the time of writing, its market capitalization stood at approximately $6.5 billion, ranking it among the 20 largest cryptocurrencies excluding stablecoins.