NEAR Protocol (NEAR) is a smart-contract blockchain that focuses on usability and scalability through sharding. It has increasingly positioned itself as an infrastructure layer for AI applications.
NEAR's ETF and privacy push offset by $3.8M exploit
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Confidential perps launch with Hyperliquid NEAR launched the first confidential-by-default perpetual futures trading with Hyperliquid, hiding positions to reduce front-running. Its Confidential Intents pipeline hit $70M in locked value. The token jumped 21% on the news, showing real demand for this privacy feature.
New product launch directly drove a sharp price gain and expands NEAR's use case.
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Short squeeze led by NEAR A broad crypto rally forced short sellers to buy back positions, with NEAR among the leaders. Short sellers lost $665.81 million in a day. This buying pressure pushed NEAR's price up, though squeezes are often temporary.
Shows a specific market event that lifted NEAR's price this period.
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First US spot NEAR ETF lists and grows Bitwise's spot NEAR ETF (NRR) began trading on NYSE Arca, giving regular investors easy access to NEAR. It gathered $52.8 million in assets in two days, up from $36 million on day one. This new demand supports the price.
New investment vehicle creates fresh demand and is a major adoption milestone.
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$3.8M exploit hits NEAR Intents NEAR Intents confirmed a $3.8 million hack and paused service. The NEAR token fell 7.5% to 10%, and the new ETF dropped 8.7%. Funds will be repaid, but the security breach hurts trust and could slow use of NEAR's cross-chain tools.
A major negative event that directly caused a price drop and raises doubts about NEAR's security.
Q3 2026
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NEAR's ETF and privacy push offset by $3.8M exploit
▲
Confidential perps launch with Hyperliquid NEAR launched the first confidential-by-default perpetual futures trading with Hyperliquid, hiding positions to reduce front-running. Its Confidential Intents pipeline hit $70M in locked value. The token jumped 21% on the news, showing real demand for this privacy feature.
New product launch directly drove a sharp price gain and expands NEAR's use case.
▲
Short squeeze led by NEAR A broad crypto rally forced short sellers to buy back positions, with NEAR among the leaders. Short sellers lost $665.81 million in a day. This buying pressure pushed NEAR's price up, though squeezes are often temporary.
Shows a specific market event that lifted NEAR's price this period.
▲
First US spot NEAR ETF lists and grows Bitwise's spot NEAR ETF (NRR) began trading on NYSE Arca, giving regular investors easy access to NEAR. It gathered $52.8 million in assets in two days, up from $36 million on day one. This new demand supports the price.
New investment vehicle creates fresh demand and is a major adoption milestone.
▼
$3.8M exploit hits NEAR Intents NEAR Intents confirmed a $3.8 million hack and paused service. The NEAR token fell 7.5% to 10%, and the new ETF dropped 8.7%. Funds will be repaid, but the security breach hurts trust and could slow use of NEAR's cross-chain tools.
A major negative event that directly caused a price drop and raises doubts about NEAR's security.
News & notes movingNEAR-USD.CC
Global
Digital Finance & Tokenization▼2
NEAR-based trading service loses about 600 million yen to a bug
NEAR Intents, a cross-chain trading platform built on the NEAR blockchain, announced on its official X account on October 1 that it had detected a security incident and temporarily suspended its service. The cause was a bug in the integration between the deposit and withdrawal infrastructure Omni and NEAR Intents' smart contracts, and the provisional loss amounts to about 3.8 million dollars, or roughly 596.6 million yen, with the company stating it will compensate the full amount. According to NEAR Protocol co-founder Illia Polosukhin, the damage was limited to USDT on BSC, with no impact on the NEAR Protocol itself or the NEAR token, and the company's AI anomaly detection feature SHIELD detected the suspicious activity. The fix was completed about one hour after detection, and NEAR Intents and near.com moved toward resuming operations. Polosukhin said NEAR Intents' monthly transaction and settlement volume has reached more than 4 billion dollars, and indicated a policy of strengthening security measures.
Digital Finance & Tokenization › Payments Modernization & Rails ▼Technology
NEAR · Technology · Negative A bug in NEAR Intents' Omni integration caused a ~$3.8M loss and forced a temporary service suspension on the NEAR blockchain.
NEAR Intents Confirms $3.8 Million Exploit as NEAR Token Falls 7.5%
NEAR Intents has officially confirmed that its infrastructure was hacked, with the cross-chain protocol losing $3.8 million in the exploit. The disclosure came on October 1, 2026, ending the project's silence on the incident. Following the confirmation, the NEAR token slumped 7.5%.
Bitwise NEAR ETF Tops $52.8 Million in Assets After Two Days on NYSE Arca
The spot Bitwise NEAR ETF, trading under the ticker NRR on NYSE Arca, surpassed $52.8 million in assets under management after just two trading days, up sharply from $36 million on its debut day. Bitwise chief investment officer Matt Hougan confirmed the milestone and hailed the fund's strong launch. The ETF is a spot product tied to NEAR.
Bitwise Asset Management · Capital · Positive Bitwise's NEAR ETF topped $52.8M in assets after two days on NYSE Arca, a strong launch milestone for the firm's fund.
NEAR · Demand · Positive Spot Bitwise NEAR ETF (NRR) surpassed $52.8M in AUM after two days, signaling strong investor demand for NEAR exposure.
Bitwise Lists Spot NEAR ETF on NYSE Arca Under Ticker NRR
The NEAR Protocol blockchain has expanded the lineup of regulated U.S. crypto investment products, following funds focused on Solana and XRP. Bitwise listed the spot Bitwise NEAR ETF on NYSE Arca under the ticker NRR, with an annual fee of 0.75%.
Bitwise Asset Management · Capital · Positive Bitwise launched and listed its spot NEAR ETF (NRR) on NYSE Arca with a 0.75% annual fee, expanding its product lineup.
NEAR · Regulation · Positive Bitwise listed a spot NEAR ETF on NYSE Arca, expanding regulated U.S. investment access to NEAR Protocol.
Crypto Short Sellers Lose $665.81 Million in 24 Hours as XRP and NEAR Lead Altcoin Squeeze
A sharp rise in cryptocurrency prices over the past 24 hours triggered the largest wave of forced short-position liquidations in months, with short sellers losing a total of $665.81 million, according to analytics platform CoinGlass. XRP and NEAR led the altcoin squeeze that drove the liquidations. The figure represents the largest such wave of forced short-position liquidations recorded in months.
NEAR Partners with Hyperliquid to Launch First Confidential Perps Trading, Price Jumps 21%
Near Protocol has launched the industry's first "confidential by default" perpetual contract trading on near.com, partnering with Hyperliquid, which serves as the core layer for execution and liquidity. Users can access more than 50 perpetual markets with leverage of up to 40x. The feature conceals all contract positions, including asset type, size, entry time, and trading direction, helping reduce the risks of front-running, strategy copying, and forced liquidations. This Perps trading runs on a multi-chain Confidential Intents pipeline, which has just reached a milestone of 70 million dollars in total locked asset value, and the network's USDC integration also enables payments between AI agents using stablecoins. However, this confidential Perps trading remains restricted in the United States and Canada for regulatory reasons. After the launch, NEAR surged 21.36% intraday, pulling back to trade at 3.21 dollars, while HYPE rose 10.82%, pulling back to trade at 86.72 dollars, after Payward, the parent company of Kraken, announced plans to bring Hyperliquid into the US market.
Digital Finance & Tokenization › Payments Modernization & Rails ▲Technology
NEAR · Technology · Positive NEAR launched the industry's first confidential-by-default perpetual contract trading on near.com, with its Confidential Intents pipeline hitting $70M TVL.
HYPE · Technology · Positive Hyperliquid serves as the core execution and liquidity layer for NEAR's new confidential perps trading, plus Kraken's parent plans to bring it into the US market.
Kraken (Payward Inc.) · Regulation · Positive Payward, Kraken's parent, announced plans to bring Hyperliquid into the US market, expanding its regulated US offering.
Trading activity on NEAR Protocol has sharply decreased, with major exchanges seeing a 36% decline in 24-hour spot volume. Spot trading volume has decreased to about $39 million, according to CoinGlass data, but futures volume is still significantly higher at about $302 million. The drop occurs as NEAR has been trading sideways for a few weeks and is having trouble gaining new momentum.
Near Protocol's derivatives market flows have increased by more than 100%, signaling renewed trader activity and positioning for a larger price move. The surge in fresh capital entering futures markets suggests volatility may return, even though NEAR has been consolidating in recent weeks after its explosive rally in May and June.
NEAR Protocol Shows Strength Near $2.00 While XRP Struggles Below Resistance
NEAR Protocol is demonstrating strength as it tries to reclaim the critical $2.00 level, while XRP remains stuck in a larger bearish structure and is still having trouble below important resistance levels.
NEAR Protocol Surged 115% in May on AI Agent Infrastructure Momentum
NEAR Protocol gained 115% in May 2026, driven by its role in building infrastructure for AI agents that can autonomously execute financial transactions. The protocol's Intents product has processed over 25 million transactions totaling more than $20 billion since its launch in the first quarter of 2025, according to crypto management firm Grayscale, with $70 million in agentic transactions recorded in a recent 24-hour period. NEAR's architecture includes privacy infrastructure through its IronClaw framework and private inference capabilities, which keep financial data and credentials encrypted—an advantage over larger platforms like Ethereum and Solana. Despite the price spike attracting speculative interest, the author suggests waiting for the excitement to cool before committing significant capital, while acknowledging that a small speculative position may be warranted for those who believe in the AI agent thesis.
NEAR · Demand · Positive NEAR Protocol's Intents product processed over 25 million transactions totaling $20B+ since Q1 2025, with $70M in agentic transactions in 24 hours, indicating strong end-user demand for its AI agent infrastructure.
