NEAR Jumps 30% as $36M Bitwise ETP Adds Weight to AI Token Thesis

NEAR rose about 30%, moving from roughly $1.73 to an intraday high near $2.25 and pushing weekly gains above 40%. The move followed an announcement that Near AI partnered with Bermuda to deploy AI-powered public services. Since early May, NEAR increased more than 70%, briefly lifting market capitalization above $2.9 billion. Institutional demand supported the rally, including a $3 million inflow into the Bitwise NEAR Staking ETP, bringing total assets under management to $36 million. Growing recognition of Near Protocol’s AI architecture, including alignment with AI agents, chain abstraction, and autonomous commerce, contributed to the positive outlook. A June dynamic resharding upgrade is planned to automatically scale and split data loads in real time to support high-frequency autonomous transactions by millions of AI agents.

"NEAR token jumped 30% to hit an intraday high of $2.25 following a public services partnership with Bermuda. The Bitwise NEAR Staking ETP recently saw a $3 million inflow, pushing total assets under management to $36 million. Near Protocol plans to deploy a dynamic resharding upgrade in June to scale infrastructure for AI agents."

"The spike saw the token maintain an upward trend that began following the announcement that Near AI had partnered with Bermuda to deploy AI-powered public services. According to the daily chart, NEAR jumped 30%, rising from $1.73 to an intraday high of $2.25, which pushed its weekly gains past the 40% mark. Since the start of May, when it traded around $1.30, the token is up over 70%, making it one of the top-performing digital assets in the period."

"Market observers attribute NEAR's upward trajectory to growing recognition of the protocol's underlying AI architecture. Near Protocol's deliberate alignment with AI agents, chain abstraction, and autonomous commerce represents a calculated play to establish itself as the default layer for the next-generation digital economy. Institutional appetite appears to validate this trajectory, highlighted by $3 million in recent inflows into the European-based Bitwise NEAR Staking ETP."

"Furthermore, the network's upcoming dynamic resharding upgrade, slated for June, underscores its aggressive commitment to agentic commerce. By allowing the blockchain to automatically scale and split data loads in real time, this structural overhaul provides the raw throughput necessary to support millions of high-frequency AI agents executing autonomous transactions."

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