NEAR Intents just beat its own record by more than a billion dollars. Look at the fee column, though, and you’ll see something far more interesting than the raw volume.
Specifically, September swap volume came in at $4.80 billion, up 72.9% from August and surpassing the previous high of $3.66 billion set in November 2025. Meanwhile, fees rose 90.9% to $7.33 million. Fees growing faster than volume is the key detail I’d put in the first paragraph, because it clearly suggests the protocol earned more on each dollar that crossed it. Consequently, I went through the numbers to see what actually stands behind that shift.
What The Record Actually Looks Like
At first glance, the headline figures are straightforward. September’s $4.80 billion is about 31% above the November 2025 peak, and working backwards from the 72.9% jump puts August near $2.78 billion. Furthermore, on DefiLlama’s NEAR Intents page, the trailing 30-day volume shows roughly $4.76 billion and cumulative volume above $33 billion, which fits a month operating at this scale.
Daily numbers back it up as well. According to DefiLlama’s series, the biggest single day was September 17, with about $303 million in volume, and cumulative volume officially crossed $30 billion on September 20. For a protocol that only began recording volume in December 2024, that is a remarkably steep climb.
Why Fees Outgrew Volume
Because fees rose 90.9% while volume rose 72.9%, the effective rate went up. Divide $7.33 million by $4.80 billion and you get about 15.3 basis points. Similarly, August’s implied rate, using the same math, was about 13.8 basis points, and DefiLlama’s own averages (roughly 13.7 before and 14.9 during the latest 30-day window) tell a similar story.
Ultimately, the reason lies in the fee structure. The swap API charges 0.25% without a key and 0.20% with one, while stablecoin pairs and same-asset routes can drop as low as 0.01%. Therefore, when more volume comes from cross-asset swaps, the overall average rises. As a result, a mix shift toward higher-fee trades, and away from cheap stablecoin routing, would produce exactly this pattern.
The Drivers Behind The Surge
Several key factors came together in the months leading up to September:
- Privacy: Confidential Intents became generally available in July, and a reported $70 million of confidential balance appeared on its first day. In particular, Zcash has been a big beneficiary, with cumulative ZEC volume exceeding $1.5 billion by early July.
- Perps funding: NEAR’s app at near.com lets users fund a Hyperliquid perpetuals account from other chains in a single step, with solvers competing to route the transfer. Consequently, traders who want to open a position don’t need a separate bridge, meaning every deposit functions as a swap.
- Tokenized stocks: On September 22, near.com announced access to 20 tokenized US stocks and ETFs through Ondo Finance, funded by assets such as Bitcoin or USDC across 30-plus networks. However, eligibility depends on location, and US persons remain restricted under current securities rules.
- Breadth: Meanwhile, by late September, the docs listed 32 supported networks, allowing more users to arrive from more places.
The Fee Switch Changes The Math
Beyond swap volume, the structure behind the fees matters just as much. NEAR turned on its Intents fee switch in February 2026, and a share of swap fees now goes to buying NEAR on the open market. According to a Bitwise research paper shared on X, that came to $1.84 million in September, up from $723,000 in August, out of $29 million in total fees paid since February.
In addition, DefiLlama’s income table shows the economics from another angle: third-quarter gross protocol revenue reached $14.43 million, with $3.07 million left as profit after the cost of revenue. Naturally, NEAR captures only part of each fee because solvers and partners take a share, but the retained slice is steadily growing alongside total volume.
How Sturdy Is The Record
Despite these figures, you should keep two cautions in mind:
- A record month is merely a snapshot. For instance, the previous peak in November 2025 was followed by a calmer stretch, and volume that depends on specific campaigns such as a new product launch or a hot privacy trade, can fade just as quickly.
- Revenue remains inherently lumpy. Third-quarter revenue of $14.43 million is up from $9.32 million in the second quarter, yet it remains close to the $14.37 million recorded in the fourth quarter of 2025. Thus, a volume record is real, but it hasn’t yet turned into a straight line of predictable growth.
What To Watch Next
Looking ahead, three markers will show whether September was a brief peak or a permanent floor:
- October volume measured against the $4.76 billion trailing figure.
- The share of volume from non-stablecoin routes, since it directly drives the fee rate.
- Sustained adoption of tokenized-stock and perps flows, as these represent the newest sources of demand.
If October holds anywhere near $4.5 billion, the story shifts from a single record to a new baseline. Until then, it’s important to follow the numbers on DefiLlama and watch for updates from NEAR Protocol.
Disclosure: This is not trading or investment advice. Always do your research before buying any cryptocurrency or investing in any services. Follow us on X @nulltxnews
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