Going All in on $NEAR
1.5 months ago, i started accumulating $NEAR with decent size a few people have been asking how i managed to spot it before the recent attention
back then, my investment framework has always been relatively simple
- Narrative,
- fundamentals, and
- who's behind it
i thought NEAR was one of the few projects that managed to capture almost all three but after digging deeper into its recent developments, my conviction has only gotten stronger
i'm starting to realize NEAR isn't just another L1 competing for liquidity it's positioning itself as infrastructure for AI, privacy, and cross-chain financeand i think the market is still significantly underpricing it
here's why
1. the narratives are starting to converge
i initially became interested in NEAR because of its exposure to two of the strongest narratives in crypto
privacy and AI
with $ZEC making a comeback, NEAR Intents has become one of the key rails for cross-chain ZEC liquidity, with over $2.2B in ZEC volume processed when i first researched it
now with Confidential Intents and its Hyperliquid integration, NEAR is expanding into privacy-focused perp trading
Bitwise's recent research also highlighted that Confidential Intents accounts for over 50% of the total value held in Intents
privacy is no longer just a narrative, there's already real buy demand for it
2. every chain is an L2 to NEAR
this is one of the most interesting parts of the thesis
while every blockchain is competing for users and liquidity, NEAR is building infrastructure that connects them all
Robinhood Chain recently integrated with NEAR Intents and near.com, enabling cross-chain transactions across 30+ networks and 180+ assets
add Hyperliquid perps and Ondo's tokenized US stocks and ETFs into the picture
users can access crypto, equities, and derivatives without worrying about which blockchain they're on
NEAR is essentially abstracting away the underlying chains
instead of competing with every ecosystem, it benefits from connecting them
of course, integrations alone don't guarantee revenue, but the opportunity is much bigger than another L1 fighting for TVL
3. the onchain fundamentals are already there
when i first started accumulating, NEAR Intents had processed around $25B in cumulative volume
the latest snapshot i tracked showed:
- $33B+ cumulative trading volume
- $4.76B volume in the last 30 days
- $223M+ Intents TVL
- $53M+ cumulative gross fees
- $7.28M fees in the last 30 days
- $2.15M captured revenue in the last 30 days
at the current 30-day run rate, that's approximately $87M in annualized gross fees and $26M in annualized captured revenue
not bad for something the market still largely treats as another L1
and with near.com building spot, perps, and wallet functionality on top of Intents, the ecosystem has another channel to attract users and capture fees
more users → more volume → more revenue → more potential buybacks
that's the flywheel i'm watching
4. the tokenomics are getting more attractive
this is probably one of the most underrated parts of the thesis
NEAR has already reduced annual token emissions from 5% to 2.5%, cutting new issuance by 50%
since February, NEAR's share of Intents fees has also been directed toward open-market $NEAR buybacks
and there's a further proposal to reduce annual issuance toward 1.6%
lower emissions, growing revenue, and revenue-funded buybacks
5. decentralised AI might be the biggest opportunity
most AI tokens in crypto are still trading on narratives
very few have meaningful connections between AI adoption and token utility
NEAR might become one of the exceptions
its co-founder @ilblackdragon co-authored Attention Is All You Need, the Transformer paper behind modern LLMs
now NEAR AI is building private inference and decentralised compute infrastructure
the idea is simple
instead of depending entirely on centralized cloud providers, independent GPU operators contribute compute to a network
NEAR AI's Confidential GPU Marketplace uses Trusted Execution Environments to protect AI workloads, with hardware attestations to verify the execution environment
NEAR describes it as the first TEE-secured compute network designed specifically for enterprise and government AI workloads
decentralised computing itself isn't new, but combining independent compute providers with confidential, verifiable execution is interesting
and this is where blockchain actually has a role
coordinating independent providers, payments, staking, and incentives without depending entirely on a centralized operator
even Venice ($VVV) has integrated NEAR AI's confidential inference infrastructure
more importantly, NEAR AI has introduced staking-based access to inference and agent hosting
users can stake $NEAR to receive recurring AI compute credits, while retaining ownership of their staked tokens
this gives NEAR another potential source of token demand beyond transaction fees and speculation
6. Bitwise ETF and track record
on September 29, Bitwise launched its US spot NEAR ETF, $NRR
and on October 7, published its research piece NEAR in Plain English
the thesis is pretty straightforward
crypto is fragmented across hundreds of blockchains, while AI is increasingly controlled by centralized providers
NEAR Intents solves the fragmentation problem, while NEAR AI is building infrastructure for private and verifiable AI
combine both, and NEAR could eventually become an execution layer for autonomous AI agents
what's also interesting is Bitwise's ETF track record
$BITB — Bitcoin ETF
- launched January 2024
- among the 25 fastest ETPs to reach $1B AUM
- crossed $2B within roughly two months
- approximately $3.1B AUM as of October 2026
$BSOL — Solana Staking ETF
- launched October 2025
- crossed $500M AUM in its first 18 trading days
- approximately $1.2B AUM as of October 2026
$NRR — NEAR ETF
- launched September 29, 2026
- approximately $60M in early AUM
- offers spot NEAR exposure with a staking component
AUM isn't the same as net inflows, and previous ETF performance doesn't guarantee the same outcome for NEAR
but Bitwise has a track record of attracting capital into crypto investment products
and now there's a US-listed vehicle for institutional investors to get exposure to NEAR without managing wallets or custody
i think this could become another meaningful catalyst
7. the valuation still looks asymmetric to me
this is probably the part that makes me most bullish
AI companies with PMF and revenue are raising private rounds at valuations in the tens of billions
meanwhile, NEAR was valued around $5B when i formed this comparison
with exposure to AI infrastructure, confidential inference, decentralised compute, cross-chain execution, tokenized assets, and a revenue-funded buyback mechanism
obviously, a token isn't equity in an AI company
but if NEAR can capture meaningful demand from AI compute and financial execution, i think the market could eventually value it very differently
especially when most people are still comparing it to other L1s
8. lastly, look at who's behind it
back in July, i listened to an hour-long WSH podcast with Mert
near the end, he mentioned three bags he was holding
$ZEC, $SOL
and lastly, $NEAR as his dark horse
at the time, almost nobody was paying attention
fast forward a few months
Naval has retweeted about NEAR
Mert has become publicly bullish
Robinhood Chain, Hyperliquid, and Ondo have expanded NEAR's financial integrations and many more incoming
and Bitwise has launched a spot ETF while publishing its own bull case
i don't buy something simply because notable people are bullish on it
but when the narrative, fundamentals, tokenomics, and institutional attention start aligning
final thoughts
some people asked how i had the conviction to size in a month+ ago
my mindset has always been that after i've done my research and built conviction, the only things left are entry and sizing
with conviction, i'll shut off the noise and start DCA + limit buys to get in with size
i was willing to take a 50% drawdown if my thesis remained intact, but not willing to miss a potential generational run
1.5 months ago, i bought NEAR average of $2, because i saw multiple narratives starting to converge
today, i'm even more bullish because the fundamentals, products, and tokenomics are starting to catch up
AI, privacy, DeFi, growing revenue, buybacks, reduced emissions, and institutional accessibility
all converging around one ecosystem
i think the market is still pricing NEAR as another L1, while the opportunity could be much bigger
the stars are starting to align
and i still think we're early
$NEAR
disclosure: i hold $NEAR. this is my investment thesis, not financial advice. metrics are historical snapshots, and future token value capture is not guaranteed.
