NEAR Protocol gains 83% in four weeks, leaving Bitcoin and Ether behind

NEAR Protocol’s native token climbed at least 83% over a recent 30-day window. Bitcoin managed roughly 5% and Ether about 1% over the same stretch. Some measurements of the move run even higher, up to 172% across 30-day periods between September and October 2026. The rally pushed NEAR back into the top 20 crypto assets by market capitalization. What drove the rally Market capitalization peaked at around $7.2 billion, with the token trading near $5.50 at that high point. As of early October, NEAR was moving between $4.70 and $5.50. The first big catalyst was Wall Street-shaped. The Bitwise NRR, the first US spot NEAR ETF, launched on September 29, 2026. It pulled in nearly $58 million during its first week. For a token that previously required a crypto exchange account to own, that is a meaningful new on-ramp. A spot ETF holds the actual token rather than futures contracts. That means a brokerage customer buying NRR shares can create real demand for NEAR itself, without ever touching a wallet or a seed phrase. The second driver is NEAR Intents, the network’s cross-chain trading system. Cumulative volume has passed somewhere in the range of $31-33 billion, spread across more than 30 ...