Bitwise’s new NEAR ETF is putting the spotlight on something bigger than simply giving investors access to another crypto asset: the growing role of blockchain infrastructure in an AI-driven economy.
The Bitwise NEAR ETF, trading under the ticker NRR on NYSE Arca, is the first US spot exchange-traded product tracking NEAR. The fund will hold NEAR directly and charges a 0.75% management fee, with Bitwise planning to stake a significant portion of its holdings.
But the more interesting story may be what is happening underneath the token.
Activity on NEAR Intents, the network’s cross-chain transaction protocol, has surged to more than $32 billion in volume, compared with less than $1 billion a year ago, according to Bitwise.
The protocol allows users and AI agents to specify what they want to accomplish without having to handle the complexity of moving assets across different blockchains themselves.
That could become increasingly relevant as AI agents begin interacting with financial systems autonomously.
Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan says the firm has already seen AI agents using NEAR, although humans still account for most of the network’s activity today. He expects agent-driven activity to grow as autonomous software becomes more capable of making transactions on its own.
The idea also fits into a broader trend. Financial institutions are increasingly examining whether AI agents could drive demand for stablecoins, cryptocurrencies and tokenized assets as machine-to-machine transactions become more common.
NEAR is positioning its Intents infrastructure to capture part of that emerging market.
The ETF launch therefore represents more than another crypto investment product. It also puts a spotlight on a broader bet: that AI agents may eventually need blockchain-based infrastructure to transact across the digital economy.
