NEAR Protocol Drives $130 Million Swap Surge to Storm $5 Level

The NEAR Protocol ecosystem has reached peak operational efficiency metrics. Over the last 24 hours, transaction volume through the NEAR Intents cross-chain swap protocol hit $130.7 million. The current surge keeps the platform’s 30-day turnover at $4.59 billion, and cumulative trading volume since launch has exceeded $35 billion.

At the same time, the native NEAR token has settled in the $4.97–$5.10 range, quickly buying back the short-term market dip to $4.62. Large capital is clearly entering the network for specific practical purposes rather than for speculation.

Institutions, Zcash, and Paranoid Security: How This Growth Works

Daily activity was driven by a sharp surge in demand for protected transactions, which now generate almost a tenth (9.4%) of NEAR Intents’ total monthly volume. In monetary terms, this hidden liquidity flow amounted to $91.9 million. The main direction of capital movement was direct cross-chain transfers between Zcash (ZEC) and Bitcoin (BTC). 

Over the course of the day, on-chain radars recorded a series of large transactions by institutional players (whales), who converted hundreds of thousands of dollars from shielded ZEC pools directly into BTC in one click. 

As a result, the ecosystem’s confidential TVL (total value locked) settled in the $151–$152 million range, turning the platform into one of the key legal hubs for protected operations.

In parallel, NEAR’s technological focus has shifted toward long-term protection against fundamental risks. Co-founder Illia Polosukhin confirmed that users can migrate the keys of their NEAR accounts to the post-quantum ML-DSA standard right now. NEAR’s architecture allows security standards to be updated within the wallet seamlessly, without affecting the funds themselves and removing the need to use third-party bridges.

The network’s technical resilience is also supported by Wall Street money. The spot Bitwise NEAR ETF (NRR) recorded a daily net inflow of $2.61 million, raising cumulative inflows to $83.05 million. The fund’s net assets under management reached $82.36 million (1.26% of NEAR’s total market capitalization), which is a strong protective buffer for the market. 

The network itself is digesting these volumes without delays. The decentralized MPC computation system has expanded to 17 independent operators, which has stabilized block generation time. Meanwhile, the recent liquidation of short positions on exchanges has noticeably eased selling pressure, clearing the way for a test of local resistance levels.