NEAR Jumps 4.23% on ETF Demand and Tokenomics Upgrades

NEAR Protocol (NEAR) surged 4.23% over the past five hours, driven by a combination of institutional demand, favorable tokenomics updates, and positive developments around its Intents platform. The launch of Bitwise’s new spot NEAR ETF (NRR) has attracted significant attention, with early inflows ranging from $50 million to $58 million. As of October 1, the ETF held approximately 11.5 million NEAR tokens, representing about 0.9% of the total supply, with 98% of these tokens staked. This institutional backing, coupled with reduced free float, has provided strong support for NEAR’s price.

On the tokenomics front, discussions are underway to reduce NEAR’s maximum annual issuance from 2.5% to 1.6% over the next 24 months, while maintaining the 90/10 split between stakers and the treasury. If approved, this change would cut around 66 million NEAR tokens from circulation over six years, effectively lowering the staking yield from 5.4% to roughly 3.5%. This shift towards lower inflation and a scarcer token supply has been met with optimism, especially as demand increases through the ETF and Intents.

The Intents platform has also been in the spotlight, with recent news highlighting its ability to route orders across both onchain and traditional finance venues, tying NEAR to the real-world assets and tokenized equities narrative. Additionally, Intents recovered $3.8 million lost in an October 1 exploit after the attacker returned the funds following a public ultimatum. The swift resolution of this issue has bolstered confidence in the platform’s security and competence, replacing earlier concerns with a positive narrative.

NEAR’s recent price move aligns with a broader risk-on crypto market, where Bitcoin (BTC) has climbed back near all-time highs, up 8.6% over the past month. Social sentiment for NEAR has also been modestly bullish, with a netSentiment score of 5.69 on X over the last 24 hours. High-quality bullish posts and trader setups have contributed to a speculation-friendly environment, amplifying NEAR’s intraday price swings.