NEAR Protocol (NEAR) Price Jumps 11% on Quantum Upgrade as Arthur Hayes Stays Bullish
Key Takeaways
- •NEAR climbed more than 11% to trade near $5.24 after the network announced its accounts already support the quantum-resistant ML-DSA signature scheme, requiring no asset migration from holders.
- •The NEP-655 proposal, which would hide account keys entirely, is running on a test network with a full launch expected within weeks.
- •NEAR Intents has reached $33.29 billion in cumulative decentralized exchange volume, and $2.15 million of the $7.81 million in fees collected over the past month was used to buy NEAR on the open market for holders.
- •A draft governance proposal would lower NEAR's maximum annual token issuance to 1.6% from the current 2.5% over two years.
- •NEAR is up about 121% over the past 30 days compared with roughly 6.4% for Bitcoin, and Bitwise's NEAR ETF took in about $5.13 million in a single day, lifting ETF assets to roughly $66 million.
NEAR Protocol's NEAR token climbed more than 11% on Saturday after the network announced that its accounts are already protected against future quantum computers. The token gained over 12% across 24 hours and was trading near $5.24 at the time of writing.
The rally stood out against a subdued broader market. Total crypto market capitalization rose only about 0.5% over the same period, while altcoin market capitalization was flat to slightly lower.
Quantum-Resistant Accounts, No Migration Needed
On Friday, NEAR said its accounts can already use ML-DSA, a digital signature scheme built to withstand attacks from quantum computers. Holders do not need to move their coins to obtain the protection. ML-DSA is one of the first post-quantum signature standards the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology finalized in 2024, placing NEAR's announcement within a broader industry push to future-proof cryptography.
Cryptographic agility is a baseline requirement for the blockchain industry. Upgrading signatures should be a routine operation. NEAR accounts already support the post-quantum ML-DSA signature scheme, with no asset migration required. The Near One team has also been working on…
— NEAR Protocol (@NEARProtocol) October 9, 2026
A second upgrade, NEP-655, goes further by hiding account keys entirely. The proposal is running on a test network, with a full launch expected within weeks. NEAR said the protocol was designed with quantum threats in mind as far back as 2018. With the testnet phase underway, the mainnet rollout of NEP-655 stands out as the network's clearest near-term milestone to track.
Intents Volume and Fee Buybacks
NEAR Intents, the platform that lets users move assets between blockchains, has reached $33.29 billion in cumulative decentralized exchange volume. Roughly $4.76 billion of that total came in the past 30 days, according to DefiLlama. Total value locked stands at approximately $223 million.
Of the $7.81 million in fees collected over the month, $2.15 million was used to buy NEAR on the open market and return it to holders — a mechanism that channels protocol revenue directly into token demand. The team also said it is designing the system's wallet contracts to accept ML-DSA, tying the quantum work directly to the Intents platform.
A draft proposal filed on Wednesday would lower maximum annual token issuance to 1.6% from the current 2.5% over two years. As a draft, it would advance through NEAR's governance process before taking effect.
Institutional demand showed signs of strength as well. Bitwise's NRR product took in about $5.13 million in a single recent day, lifting NEAR ETF assets to roughly $66 million, even as some other altcoin ETFs recorded outflows.
Analysts Stay Constructive
Analyst Michaël van de Poppe described NEAR as "such a beautiful chart" and said the sweep of the lows was bullish from a day-trading perspective. He expects "a little pullback" before the token moves back toward new yearly highs. If this cycle resembles 2017, he added, returns could be substantial as adoption arrives.
Analyst Jesse Olson said on X that NEAR continues to flip bullish on higher time frames, noting that the price broke out of a 4.5-year downward trendline. He expects pullbacks along the way, with a possible retest of the trendline.
$NEAR continues to flip bullish on higher time frames. Price broke out of the 4.5 year downward trendline. We expect pullbacks along the way, retest trendline and/or blue line? pic.twitter.com/6RxcELwMbA
— Jesse Olson (@JesseOlson) October 10, 2026
The bullish case was also made in person this week. A video posted by Andy, founder of The RollUp, showed Arthur Hayes, the BitMEX co-founder turned crypto commentator, reportedly remained bullish on NEAR. At TOKEN2049 in Singapore, one of crypto's flagship industry conferences, NEAR co-founder Illia Polosukhin joked about the token reaching triple digits.
Longer-Term Outperformance
NEAR has outperformed over longer horizons as well. The token is up about 121% over the past 30 days, compared with roughly 6.4% for Bitcoin. Among the major altcoins tracked, only NEAR and Cardano were still in the green over the last week.
The latest figures show NEAR trading near $5.24 on Sunday, up 7.9% over roughly 25 hours.
Source: CoinCentral
