Near | Crypto

The furious debate over Bitget’s $387.7M of hacked funds comes down to whether ideals around “permissionless and decentralized” tech means never intervening — even if you could. After Bitget got hacked on Sept. 24, $387.5 million of stolen funds quickly began moving across chains, with some headed to decentralized cross chain swaps platform THORChain. Chief executive Gracy Chen publicly appealed to the platform to refuse service to attacker-linked addresses. “The industry is watching,” she said. Yet THORChain refused. And that refusal has kicked off a furious debate between those who believe protocols have a moral obligation to block stolen funds, and those hold the cypherpunk ideals of decentralized, permissionless technology sacrosanct. Having previously watched on as the Bybit hackers funneled $1.2 billion through the protocol, it’s pretty clear which side of the argument THORChain is on. Developer Boone Wheeler tells Magazine: Critics argue that THORChain wasn’t quite so idealistic when validators voted t...

NEAR’s new US ETF is facing its first stress test days after launch as a $3.8 million ecosystem exploit hit the token. NEAR fell about 10% to $4.86 after NEAR Intents disclosed a security incident involving its Omni deposit-and-withdrawal infrastructure. The selloff came less than two days after Bitwise opened the token to US exchange-traded […] The post Wall Street arrived in NEAR just as a $4 billion-a-month app got hacked appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Bitwise’s NEAR ETF begins trading on NYSE Arca as the token rallies more than 160% over the past month and activity on NEAR Intents grows. Crypto asset manager Bitwise has launched the first US spot exchange-traded product tracking NEAR, giving investors exposure to the token through a fund trading on NYSE Arca. Read more

Is NEAR headed toward a new ATH?

Near expanded privacy features for traders as NEAR Intents recorded $29.3 billion in cumulative volume, including swaps involving Zcash. Near Protocol’s native token surged nearly 80% over the past week, outpacing the wider crypto market as the network expanded its privacy-focused trading services. On Monday, NEAR traded around $4.29, up about 78.2% over seven days and 22% over the past 24 hours, according to CoinGecko. Total cryptocurrency market capitalization rose about 6% over the same seven-day period. On Thursday, Near Protocol said deposits and withdrawals for perpetual futures trading through near.com were now confidential by default. Near said the feature obscures the link between a trader’s funding wallet and a dedicated Hyperliquid trading account. Read more

Crypto discussion across X, Reddit, Telegram, and other major social channels has fallen to its second-lowest daily level since October 2024, according to Santiment. Bitcoin holds near $64,609 through that same stretch, with an intraday high of $64,832 and a low of $61,823 in recent sessions. That combination usually reads as a setup in which […] The post Near $65K, Bitcoin’s 2 year social media drop off is hiding a $4.3 billion whale exit and a new class of buyers appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Bittensor (TAO), up 12% from Friday, joined NEAR Protocol (NEAR) as a top performer.

Arthur Hayes said he dumped his HYPE and NEAR holdings after warning markets may peak before September and AI IPOs could drain liquidity. BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes said he dumped his Hyperliquid (HYPE) and Near Protocol (NEAR) token holdings, reversing course after previously assigning aggressive upside targets to both assets. Hayes cited higher energy prices due to the ongoing Middle East conflict, three forthcoming “mega AI IPOs” by the third quarter of 2026 and predictions that US President Donald Trump would turn “anti-AI” to help Republicans win the US midterm elections.  “I think highs in mrkts will happen btw now and September,” wrote Hayes in a Thursday X post, adding that it was “time to take profit.” Read more

Arthur Hayes has done it again. Just now, the BitMEX co-founder and Maelstrom CIO revealed he had sold his entire HYPE and NEAR positions. Why? Rising energy prices tied to tensions in Iran, looming AI IPOs that could drain market liquidity, and a belief that markets may peak sometime between now and September. His solution […] The post Arthur Hayes Dumped HYPE and NEAR: Shill, Pump, Dump, Repeat appeared first on Cryptonews.

NEAR has rebounded from a key historical support zone, reviving a bullish fractal that preceded 2,375% and 900% rallies in previous cycles. NEAR, the native token of the AI- and privacy-focused Near Protocol, has been an outlier in the broader crypto market, outperforming top coins such as Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) in recent weeks. As of Tuesday, NEAR traded as high as $2.75, marking a nearly 20% rebound in the last 24 hours. In comparison, the crypto market capitalization dropped by 3.7% in the same period. NEAR/USD four-hour chart. Source: TradingView Read more

NEAR is mirroring a 2023–2024 fractal that preceded a 250% rally, hinting at similar upside in 2026 as privacy coin demand grows. Near Protocol's native token, NEAR, has the potential to grow 20x by 2027, according to Arthur Hayes, co-founder of the crypto derivatives exchange BitMEX. Key takeaways: Speaking on The Rollup podcast, Hayes said NEAR’s bullish case rests on NEAR Intents, a feature that lets AI agents move assets privately across blockchains without dealing with bridges, multiple wallets or fragmented liquidity. Read more

NEAR price surges 50% in a week as AI token momentum, Nvidia optimism and network upgrades fuel bullish sentiment. NEAR Protocol (NEAR) displayed strength on Friday, rising 34% over the last 24 hours to $2.32, leading artificial intelligence-based tokens in a rally fueled by NEAR’s network upgrades and NVIDIA's bullish revenue forecast.  NEAR is trading 50% higher than its price seven days ago and has gained a whopping 115% over the last 90 days. Key takeaways: Read more

Internet Computer (ICP), up 4.3% from Thursday, joined NEAR Protocol (NEAR) as a top performer.

Near One says blockchains may need new ownership verification systems if quantum attacks compromise wallet keys and expose private assets. Blockchain protocols preparing for the quantum computing threat should also consider how to quickly verify ownership on the blockchain if funds are stolen, the development and research team behind the layer-1 NEAR Protocol said. Concerns that quantum computers could eventually break blockchain cryptography have fueled worries about private keys and wallet security, but most of the conversation has focused on preventing such attacks. “We won’t be able to tell if someone running a transaction is the rightful owner of the asset or not,” Near One’s chief technology officer, Anton Astafiev, said on Wednesday, adding that blockchain protocols would be forced to make tough decisions on whether to freeze compromised crypto wallets. Read more

Avalanche (AVAX), up 5.5% since Friday, joined NEAR Protocol (NEAR) as a top performer.

XRP price analysis reveals critical support at $1.27 as AI agents narrative grows. Meanwhile, Bitcoin Hyper raises over $32M bringing SVM to Bitcoin L2. The post XRP Price Prediction: On-Chain Data Is Signaling XRP May Be Near a Bottom — Is Breakout Coming? appeared first on Cryptonews.

One popular analyst classified NEAR as “simply the best AI protocol in the ecosystem.”

The new company will use NEAR’s blockchain and NVIDIA technology to build privacy-preserving AI infrastructure, while offering exposure to the NEAR token. Nasdaq-listed OceanPal Inc. has raised $120 million through a private investment in public equity deal to launch SovereignAI, a new subsidiary focused on commercializing the NEAR Protocol and developing AI infrastructure. According to a Tuesday announcement, SovereignAI will implement a crypto treasury strategy, with plans to acquire up to 10% of the NEAR (NEAR) token supply. The move, developed in partnership with the NEAR Foundation, makes OceanPal a public vehicle for exposure to the crypto protocol’s native token. OceapPal said the partnership with the NEAR Foundation is based on a shared vision of “universal AI sovereignty.” Read more

Geneva, Switzerland, September 4, 2025  – TRON DAO, the community-governed DAO dedicated to accelerating the decentralization of the internet through blockchain technology and decentralized applications (dApps), today announced a strategic collaboration with NEAR to integrate NEAR Intents on the TRON blockchain. The integration enables seamless swaps through a frictionless, intent-based experience for users and ecosystem […] The post NEAR and TRON Enable Seamless Cross-Chain Stablecoin Transfers with NEAR Intents Integration appeared first on CryptoSlate.

In Q1 2025, NEAR made significant strides toward chain abstraction with the expansion of Chain Signatures and Intents across key applications, launched OmniBridge to enhance multichain liquidity, and deepened its User-Owned AI strategy with verifiable AI agents, SDKs, and launched shade agents. All reinforcing its role as a foundational layer for next-gen decentralized and AI-native ecosystems. NEAR also upgraded from 6 to 8 shards and dropped its block time to 600ms and 1.2s finality.