NEAR Protocol's token has delivered exceptional performance with a remarkable +80% gain over the past seven days, currently trading at approximately $2.70. The latest surge has been fueled by momentum around NEAR Intents, the network's cross-chain transaction system that simplifies complex swaps across blockchains. According to DeFiLlama data, NEAR Intents has now processed more than $19 billion in cumulative volume and generated roughly $32 million in fees, metrics that have renewed market interest after a period of muted price action. The rally gained significant momentum after NEAR jumped over +30% in the immediate aftermath of Arthur Hayes' endorsement, briefly touching $2.30 before stabilizing and continuing its climb. As reported by CryptoRank, the protocol's on-chain growth shows a 240% jump in daily active addresses and 187% TVL increase, with the fundamental model projecting a 2026 band of $9.50–$15.25 if this growth continues to compound.
According to reports from CoinDesk, BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes has reinforced his bullish stance on NEAR Protocol with a recent social media post featuring a weekly price chart. The post, captioned 'We got a long way to go ... pack your bags for da moon,' arrived as NEAR traded well below its 2022 peak above $20. The weekly chart Hayes shared shows the token recovering from multi-year lows, suggesting he sees substantial upside potential from current levels. As reported by CoinCentral, Hayes posted on X that $HYPE, $ZEC, and $NEAR form what he called his 'holy trinity' of altcoin picks, adding: "When you are in position, trading is easy, sit back and watch the number go up." The endorsement carries real weight, as Hayes has a documented track record of moving token prices with public calls, and this one delivered the impressive +80% weekly gain that caught most of the market off guard.
The selection of NEAR as part of Hayes' holy trinity maps to a clear infrastructure thesis: Hyperliquid for high-performance decentralized trading, Zcash for privacy, and NEAR for scalability. With a major protocol upgrade (dynamic resharding) scheduled for June 2026, NEAR's technical roadmap gives Hayes' narrative something concrete to point at. The dynamic resharding feature automatically splits network shards as demand rises, aimed at improving scalability during periods of heavy usage. According to Flippix analysis, NEAR looks like it's trying to complete one of the biggest breakout structures in crypto right now, with the chart having compressed under a multi-year downtrend since the 2021 cycle top. The broader question remains whether current prices already reflect that story, as the asymmetric upside available at this entry point is materially smaller than it was a week ago.
Institutional interest has been growing alongside the price momentum, with the Bitwise NEAR Staking ETP listed in Europe reaching about $40 million in assets under management after roughly $7 million in inflows in a single week. The institutional demand follows the strong performance of NEAR Intents, which lets users specify desired outcomes like swapping USDC on Ethereum for SOL on Solana while third-party solvers handle cross-chain execution. According to DeFiLlama data, NEAR Intents has processed more than $19 billion in cumulative volume and generated approximately $32 million in fees, putting the protocol back on the radar after a period of limited price movement. The protocol is positioned as a proof-of-stake layer-1 blockchain built for applications, AI infrastructure and cross-chain activity, marketing itself as a sharded platform that simplifies multi-chain interactions while handling high throughput.
Despite the impressive +80% weekly gain, NEAR remains far below its 2022 peak near $20, suggesting significant upside potential remains. However, as noted by Flippix, at a $2.70 spot price and a market cap already reflecting Hayes' endorsement, the asymmetric upside available at this entry point is materially smaller than it was a week ago. The token's current trading around $2.70 represents a more than 90% gain over the past month, positioning it as one of the strongest performers in the current crypto market cycle. Short-term traders should watch the $2.77 pivot closely this week, as it represents the line between consolidation and continuation. Early-stage infrastructure plays like LiquidChain are drawing attention as satellite positions, with LiquidChain positioning itself as a Layer 3 infrastructure protocol that fuses liquidity from Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana into a single execution environment.
