NEAR Price Surges on AI Staking and Yield Opportunities

Near Protocol has made two significant updates that are driving up its price. The first is the launch of AI staking, which allows users to pay for confidential inference by staking NEAR instead of cash. This system supports over 40 AI models from top providers such as Anthropic, OpenAI, and Google.

The second update comes from near.com, where a new Earn vault system has been launched. USDC holders can now earn yield without locking their funds away. The vaults are curated by Gauntlet and 628 Labs on Taler Finance.

The price of NEAR is up over 3% in the last 24 hours, trading at around $1.64. Market cap has also increased to approximately $2.15 billion. Daily volume reached a high of over $199 million, a jump of more than 42%.