NEW YORK — Bitwise launched the first U.S. spot exchange-traded product tracking the NEAR token, providing investors direct exposure to the Layer-1 blockchain. The Bitwise NEAR ETF, trading under the ticker NRR on NYSE Arca, carries an annual management fee of 0.75 percent and holds NEAR directly. Bitwise intends to stake a significant portion of the fund’s underlying tokens.
This ETF debut follows a sharp rally in the NEAR token, which gained approximately 167 percent over the past month to trade around $4.94. The token climbed 81 percent over the past year, reflecting growing interest in the network’s strategy.
The launch coincides with a notable increase in activity on NEAR Intents, the network’s cross-chain transaction protocol. Volume on NEAR Intents surged to more than $32 billion, a large leap from less than $1 billion recorded a year ago, according to data provided by Bitwise.
Bitwise Chief Investment Officer Matt Hougan said the firm views AI agents as an expanding use case for NEAR. Hougan confirmed Bitwise observes evidence of AI agents already utilizing the network and anticipates this activity will increase over time. He said most current activity on NEAR remains human-driven.
Bitwise developed the U.S. NEAR ETF since launching its European NEAR exchange-traded product in June 2025. NRR now joins Bitwise’s existing lineup of single-asset crypto products in the U.S. which includes funds tracking Bitcoin (BITB), Ether (ETHW), Solana (BSOL), XRP (XRP) and Hyperliquid (BHYP).
NEAR, originally a Layer-1 blockchain for decentralized applications, shifted its strategic focus toward artificial intelligence in 2024. Since then, the protocol has increasingly concentrated on cross-chain infrastructure and autonomous AI agents.
BlackRock, in a research paper released last week, highlighted AI agents as a potential driver for increased demand for stablecoins, cryptocurrencies and tokenized assets. The firm’s analysis pointed to the rise of machine-to-machine transactions as a key factor.
BlackRock characterized AI as a potential structural catalyst for digital asset adoption. The firm argued that programmable assets are well-suited for high-frequency, low-value transactions that operate continuously.
NEAR aims to capture a segment of this activity through its Intents protocol. Intents allows users and AI agents to specify a desired transaction outcome, with third-party solvers competing to execute that transaction across various supported blockchains.
Hougan explained that the design of Intents directly aligns with the goal-based orientation of large language models (LLMs), effectively shielding them from the complexities of bridging and other cross-chain challenges. This mechanism streamlines the interaction between AI systems and diverse blockchain environments.
Cross-chain usability is a critical factor behind Intents’ growth, according to Hougan. He said bridging and cross-chain abstraction have posed significant challenges for crypto for nearly a decade, leading to considerable time and capital losses for many participants. The protocol addresses these long-standing issues directly.
