NEAR Surges 151% in 30 Days as AI Crypto Sector Soars

NEAR Protocol (NEAR) led the charge in AI crypto tokens last month, with its price surging over 151% in just 30 days. According to a research note from Grayscale, the firm's AI crypto sector saw gains of 54%, more than double the broader market's 24% rise. NEAR jumped an impressive 183% during September, while other AI-linked tokens like Venice (VVV), World (WLD), and Bittensor (TAO) also posted significant gains.

Grayscale's Head of Research Zach Pandl pointed out that public blockchains could provide open infrastructure for agent payments, identity, private compute, and verifiable records. He noted that the AI sector is worth around $15 billion and believes it has the potential to produce one or more major winners over the next five years.

However, NEAR's price took a hit after a bug was detected in its Omni deposit and withdrawal infrastructure interaction with the protocol's smart contract, resulting in losses of about $3.8 million. Despite this setback, NEAR remains up over 211% so far this year and rose over 55% in the last 12 months.