The crypto market is recovering, but not all projects benefit from the return of capital. This week, NEAR Protocol stands out as one of the big winners: +28% in 24 hours, +45% over seven days. Behind this surge, three major updates which place the project at the heart of the most prominent trends of the moment, AI, confidentiality and scalability.
In brief
- NEAR Protocol jumped 28% in 24 hours and 45% over a week.
- The project focuses on AI, data privacy and automatic network scaling.
- The new features target AI agents and confidential finance.
- Investors are now looking for altcoins with real use cases.
NEAR benefits from the return of capital to altcoins
NEAR Protocol's rally comes after several strategic announcements unveiled between May 20 and 22. The protocol introduced new solutions around on-chain privacy, artificial intelligence and network scalability. Result: the market reacted immediately.
In a context where bitcoin has recently corrected after its historic surge, part of the capital is starting to reposition itself on altcoins considered more aggressive and innovative. NEAR appears today as one of the rare projects capable of combining several strong market trends: AI, blockchain infrastructures and data protection.
This dynamic also greatly exceeds the performance of other crypto projects linked to artificial intelligence such as Worldcoin or Venice Token. Traders are now looking for solid narratives rather than a simple speculative effect.
The market also seems to appreciate the long-term positioning adopted by co-founder Illia Polosukhin. For several months, the latter has defended the idea of a future dominated by “AI agents” capable of interacting directly with the blockchain to execute payments, manage contracts or automate digital commerce.
Confidentiality, AI and scalability, NEAR’s new strategy
The first catalyst for this increase concerns the launch of “Confidential Treasuries”. This solution allows businesses and organizations to manage private payments, multi-signature treasuries and cross-chain operations on more than 35 blockchains.
In an environment where confidentiality is becoming a major issue for companies using AI, this development considerably strengthens the attractiveness of the protocol. According to the NEAR team, more than 68 million dollars have already passed through its confidential infrastructure over the last month.
Another major advance: the integration of an automatic anonymization system for data sent to models like OpenAI ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini. The goal is clear: prevent sensitive data from leaving users' devices.
Finally, NEAR prepares a crucial upgrade scheduled for June 2026 with its “dynamic repartitioning” system. This technology will allow the network to automatically divide its partitions in order to increase its processing capacity.
The protocol thus claims to be able to exceed the performance of traditional payment networks like Visa. An ambition which shows to what extent blockchains are now seeking to attract not only decentralized finance, but also the real economy powered by AI.
A selective rally in a still wary market
This increase is not just down to technology. Sammi Li, CEO of the Ju.com platform, points to a rotation of capital: after months of fueling Bitcoin, liquidity is looking for new vehicles. NEAR, with its historical positioning around AI, has become “one of the most obvious beneficiaries” of this influx.
But Li warns: prices can move “much faster than fundamentals” once momentum starts. And the market remains cautious overall. On the Myriad prediction platform, users only give a 12% probability to a widespread altseason before July, a stable figure since May, which confirms the level of “fear” of the Fear & Greed index.
For Li, this caution is not necessarily a bad sign. Capital is now focused on solid, well-established projects. “ The market is much more selective than in previous cycles “, she emphasizes. If Bitcoin holds up, quality altcoins could outperform,” and it often begins when skepticism is still prevalent. »
NEAR may have found its window of opportunity at the intersection of AI and confidential crypto. The real question is no longer whether the project is solid, but whether the market is ready to trust it over the long term.
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