NEAR cryptocurrency surged 198% in the third quarter. Will AI become the next catalyst?

核心洞察

NEAR 加密资产在第三季度飙升 198%，Intents 累计交易量突破 300 亿美元。Bitwise 认为，NEAR 现有的业务是其更大规模 AI 代理野心的基石。Intents 今年可能产生约 4500 万美元的费用，其中部分收入将通过回购返还给持有者。

关于 NEAR 加密资产的叙事，已不再局限于“为人工智能做准备的区块链”。在 10 月 7 日的一份首席投资官（CIO）备忘录中，Bitwise 首席投资官 Matt Hougan 指出，NEAR 在第三季度实现了 198% 的涨幅，其 Intents 产品的累计交易量超过 300 亿美元，预计今年产生的费用约为 4500 万美元。

他的观点是：人工智能代表了更大的机遇，但现有业务并不依赖于该愿景的实现。

AI 押注之前，NEAR 加密资产已拥有实际业务

Bitwise 的备忘录将 NEAR 置于一个独特的位置。尽管该网络将自己定位为“AI 的区块链”，但其最切实的进展证据来自普通用户。

NEAR Intents 允许用户在不同的区块链之间移动，而无需处理通常涉及的各种钱包、桥接协议和交易所。

Near Crypto Intents Gaining Traction |Source: Bitwise Memo According to Bitwise, cumulative transaction volume has now exceeded US$30 billion. The product is on track to generate approximately $45 million in fees this year, a portion of which will be returned to token holders through repurchase.

This adds a revenue layer to the NEAR crypto asset narrative that other AI-themed assets do not yet have. Hougan argued that investors don't have to wait for the future proxy economy to assess the network's current usefulness.

Why do NEAR crypto assets perform better than Bitcoin and Ethereum?

The sharp rise in the third quarter provided important information on NEAR's price trend. Bitwise reported that Bitcoin rose 43% during the quarter and Ethereum rose 71%. NEAR climbed 198%, becoming one of the most prominent targets among large-cap crypto assets during the period.

But this does not prove that the rally is AI-driven. Bitwise's memorandum made no such claim. Instead, it points to a combination of existing network activity with a long-term AI vision.

The difference is that the performance of a token can draw attention to a certain narrative, while the data behind the intentions provides another way to measure adoption. For NEAR crypto assets, this is the most critical part of the report.

NEAR's narrative of moving beyond mere blockchain

NEAR's narrative of crypto-assets begins with co-founder Illia Polosukhin, who co-authored the 2017 paper "Attention Is All You Need."

The paper introduced the Transformer architecture, which became the basis of the modern large language model. Bitwise believes that NEAR has been conducting reverse engineering based on the needs of the AI proxy economy.

Large-scale machine activities require extremely high transaction capacity, and as agents interact with assets across multiple networks, cross-chain execution capabilities will also become necessary. If these systems process funds or sensitive information, privacy protection becomes critical. The NEAR Cryptographic Asset Network has products built for these needs, including Intentions and private AI infrastructure.

Bitwise explains that Intention allows users, including AI systems, to perform cross-chain transactions through a network of "solver", and its private AI infrastructure is designed to hide sensitive data even from NEAR itself.

However, the memorandum is cautious about timing. According to Hougan, agency finance is still in its infancy, which makes the opportunity for AI crypto-assets a long-term narrative.

AI may be an additional gain rather than a basic

The most unusual part of the NEAR crypto asset narrative is that the current case does not require an entirely reliance on AI business to support it. Hougan describes NEAR as an "exciting blockchain company" and sees AI opportunities as additional upside.

He also believes that even if AI agents do not become a major market, NEAR can still perform well with its existing business. This is fundamentally different from purchasing AI crypto assets based almost entirely on future usage.

Bitwise Launches NEAR ETF on NYSE Arca |Source: X NEAR's crypto asset narrative has two levels. One is measurable now: the cumulative trading volume of Intents has exceeded US$30 billion, and fees are expected to be incurred this year by approximately US$45 million. Another is still developing: providing infrastructure for economies where AI agents conduct transactions on behalf of users.

The next question for NEAR crypto asset prices is not just whether AI will get bigger. It is whether the network can continue to transform existing activities into transaction volume, fees and buybacks, while providing support for the construction of its agency infrastructure.

Bitwise pointed out in an October 7 memo that the two can coexist. NEAR has a business, and AI is a bigger bet on its future possibilities.