NEAR Protocol (NEAR) emerged as the top performer among the top 100 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, surging 21.14% in the last 24 hours to trade around ₹2.20. According to CoinMarketCap's gainers and losers dashboard, the layer 1 network's move extended a broader upswing for the project, which markets itself as a high performance, AI native execution layer designed to support intelligent agents and decentralized applications. The rally represents a significant shift in market sentiment toward AI and interoperability-focused tokens.
Worldcoin's (WLD) token followed as the second-best performer, gaining 12.39% to approximately ₹0.2947, while Artificial Superintelligence Alliance's (FET) token advanced 9.05% to ₹0.2105 over the same period. Both tokens sit at the intersection of identity or AI infrastructure and crypto, underscoring how speculative capital continues to cluster around artificial intelligence narratives. Quant's QNT token also broke higher, adding 8.76% on the day to roughly ₹79.28, while Celestia's TIA climbed 8.74% to around ₹0.445.
While major AI and infrastructure tokens pushed higher, edgeX was among the notable laggards in the same top 100 basket, falling 7.76% on the session. Data from market trackers shows edgeX currently trades around the ₹1.20 to ₹1.50 range with a market capitalization above ₹500 million and a 24-hour trading volume in the high tens of millions. The pullback suggests profit taking or rotation away from DEX tokens, as traders reprice tokens tied more explicitly to AI infrastructure and cross-chain interoperability narratives.
Worldcoin's rally comes against the backdrop of a controversial tokenomics overhaul, after the project co-founded by OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman announced that it will slash its daily token unlock rate by 43% from July 24. The project will reduce combined emissions from roughly 5.1 million WLD per day to about 2.9 million WLD per day. The team argues that lower issuance could improve the token's long-term supply-demand profile, even as the project continues to face regulatory scrutiny over its biometric data collection model.
For NEAR, the day's move fits into a longer repositioning of the project as a platform for the 'agentic future,' with the team describing the network as an execution layer built for AI native applications. The protocol is positioned as 'a modular, high speed protocol designed for AI to act on behalf of users,' emphasizing that the blockchain serves as the trusted backend for identity, data and settlement while AI handles user-facing intent. The gains reflect renewed attention on the Artificial Superintelligence Alliance, the umbrella entity created in 2024 when Fetch.ai, SingularityNET and Ocean Protocol merged to build open, decentralized AI infrastructure.
