TLDR
- NEAR has climbed over 90% in the past month, trading around $2.80 at time of writing.
- BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes named NEAR alongside HYPE and ZEC as his top altcoin picks in a post on X.
- NEAR Intents, the protocol’s cross-chain system, has processed over $19 billion in volume and generated $32 million in fees.
- A major network upgrade introducing dynamic resharding is scheduled for June 2026.
- The Bitwise NEAR Staking ETP in Europe has grown to around $40 million in assets under management.
NEAR Protocol’s token has had a strong run over the past month. It has nearly doubled in price, climbing roughly 90% to trade around $2.80. The surge has drawn attention from traders and investors who had mostly ignored the token during a quiet stretch earlier this year.
The catalyst that got people talking was a post from Arthur Hayes, co-founder of BitMEX and head of family office fund Maelstrom. Hayes posted on X that $HYPE, $ZEC, and $NEAR form what he called his “holy trinity” of altcoin picks. He added: “When you are in position, trading is easy, sit back and watch the number go up.”
Arthur Hayes on why Near and Zcash form the core of his privacy trade:
"Zcash is the first place you go. Enabling anonymous value transfer to any chain is huge."
"Near: 20x potential. Zcash: 5x over the next year. Didn't scale Near as large as Zcash, the higher the target, the… https://t.co/Y2OJSZAkMO pic.twitter.com/fRe7yP9pJx
— The Rollup (@therollupco) May 25, 2026
NEAR jumped around 30% immediately after the post. It has continued to climb since, briefly touching $2.30 before pushing higher. Hyperliquid and Zcash also gained from the mention, but neither saw moves as large as NEAR.
Crypto analyst Sjuul from AltCryptoGems also flagged the momentum on X, writing that NEAR “has been trading in beast mode lately, really outperforming the rest of the market by far.” He pointed to what he described as a “massive power of 3 setup” on the charts, suggesting the rally could continue as long as price holds its current range.
$NEAR has been trading in beast mode lately, really outperforming the rest of the market by far.
If you zoom out, you can clearly see that it is trading in a massive power of 3 setup.
As long as we trade in the green zone, simply expect an expansion. 🤞 pic.twitter.com/UCFJcDlBDs
— Sjuul | AltCryptoGems (@AltCryptoGems) May 25, 2026
NEAR Intents Driving Real Usage Numbers
Beyond the hype, there is product activity behind the price move. NEAR Intents is the protocol’s cross-chain transaction system. It lets users request an outcome — like swapping USDC on Ethereum for SOL on Solana — while third-party solvers handle the execution.
According to DefiLlama data, NEAR Intents has processed more than $19 billion in cumulative volume and generated approximately $32 million in fees. That activity has put the protocol back on the radar after a period of limited price movement.
Institutional interest has been growing too. The Bitwise NEAR Staking ETP, listed in Europe, has reached around $40 million in assets under management. It saw $7 million in inflows in a single week.
June Upgrade Could Improve Scalability
Traders are also keeping an eye on a June 2026 network upgrade. The change introduces dynamic resharding, a system that automatically splits network shards as demand grows. The goal is to maintain performance during periods of heavy usage without manual intervention.
Hayes’ investment thesis appears to line up with this technical roadmap. He has framed NEAR as a scalability play, alongside Hyperliquid for decentralized trading and Zcash for privacy.
Despite the rally, NEAR is still well below its 2022 peak near $20. At the time of writing, the token is trading around $2.80, up more than 90% over the past 30 days.
