NEAR Price Forecast: Bitwise CEO Flags AI Moonshot Potential

NEAR Protocol is gaining fresh attention after Bitwise CEO Matt Hougan identified the smaller-cap crypto asset as a potential long-term beneficiary of the emerging AI-agent economy. NEAR rose to $5.38, gaining 6.23% over 24 hours and extending its 30-day advance above 130%. Hougan’s thesis centers on a combination that he considers unusual among smaller crypto assets: an operating business generating measurable activity today, alongside a potentially much larger AI use case.

NEAR’s Existing Business Gains Traction

Hougan said advisers frequently ask about smaller crypto assets that could eventually become significantly larger. He approaches such investments cautiously because many rely heavily on expectations rather than established commercial activity.

NEAR presents a different case, in his view. Its NEAR Intents platform has already processed more than $32 billion in cumulative volume across more than 35 blockchains, according to Bitwise. The network’s revenue model has also become more significant as Intents activity expands.

NEAR’s own revenue dashboard shows that protocol and product fees are being captured through Intents activity, with a portion of the resulting revenue directed toward token buybacks. Bitwise said the network’s inflation rate was recently reduced to 2.5% annually, further changing the economics surrounding the token.

The institutional access story has also strengthened.

• Bitwise launched the first U.S. spot NEAR ETP on Sept. 29, providing regulated market exposure.
• Bitwise said NEAR Intents had grown from less than $1 billion in volume a year earlier to more than $32 billion.

NEAR Intents Targets AI Commerce

NEAR Intents is designed to simplify transactions across different blockchain networks. Instead of manually managing each transaction, users or software can specify the outcome they want, while independent solvers compete to execute the transaction.

That architecture could become more important if AI agents begin conducting financial transactions independently. An AI agent could, for example, request an asset swap or another transaction without directly handling the underlying cross-chain mechanics.

Bitwise describes this as infrastructure for an emerging agent economy. More AI agents could increase Intents activity, while higher transaction volumes could increase demand for NEAR’s settlement infrastructure.

The network is also expanding beyond conventional crypto transfers. Its partnership with Ondo Finance brings tokenized stocks and ETFs into crypto wallets, giving NEAR Intents exposure to a broader range of financial assets.

AI Vision Drives NEAR Price Outlook

Hougan’s longer-term argument is that NEAR could combine an established transaction business with an AI-driven expansion opportunity. The AI thesis remains forward-looking, but the underlying Intents activity provides a measurable base from which that opportunity could develop.

For the NEAR price forecast, momentum is already significant. The token’s move to $5.38 and more than 130% 30-day gain show that traders have responded strongly to the broader growth narrative.

The key question is whether network adoption, revenue generation and AI-agent activity can continue expanding fast enough to justify the market’s higher valuation.

Conclusion

NEAR’s recent rally reflects more than a short-term AI narrative. Bitwise points to growing Intents volume, expanding revenue and new institutional access as evidence of an operating business, while AI-agent commerce represents the larger potential market. If those two trends continue to reinforce each other, NEAR could remain one of the crypto assets most closely watched for exposure to the developing AI economy.