Bitwise Launches the First US Spot NEAR ETF

Bitwise has launched the first US spot exchange-traded fund tracking the NEAR token. It trades on NYSE Arca under the ticker NRR and becomes the sixth single-asset crypto product in the company's American lineup. It's worth knowing about because the fund arrived right after a month in which NEAR gained roughly 167%.

What exactly did Bitwise launch?

The Bitwise NEAR ETF began trading on September 29. The fund holds NEAR tokens directly rather than through futures or other derivatives. The management fee is 0.75% per year.

The company spent more than a year on the product. According to Matt Hougan, Bitwise's chief investment officer, work began in the summer of 2025, when a European exchange-traded product on NEAR went live. The US lineup, which already has funds on Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, XRP and Hyperliquid, now has one more asset.

The other funds trade under BITB for Bitcoin, ETHW for Ether, BSOL for Solana, XRP for XRP and BHYP for Hyperliquid. NRR extends that row and becomes the first US fund to open up NEAR specifically.

How does the fund work, and what is staking here?

An exchange-traded fund (ETF) is bought and sold on an exchange like an ordinary share, while inside it owns an asset. Here that asset is NEAR. An investor needs no wallet and no crypto exchange account, a brokerage account is enough.

For an ordinary buyer the difference is tangible. Buying the token directly means choosing an exchange, picking a wallet and looking after keys. The fund removes those chores, but an annual fee is charged for the convenience, and the investor does not own the token itself.

The key difference with NRR is staking. A token holder locks coins in the network for a set period, helps confirm transactions and earns a reward for it. Bitwise intends to stake a significant part of the fund's coins.

• Tokens: the NEAR sits in the fund, not in the investor's wallet.
• Bitwise plans to stake part of the coins so the fund earns the network's reward.
• NRR shares trade through the day, like any other stock on NYSE Arca.
• The share price tracks the price of NEAR, adjusted for the fee.

Why is NEAR in the spotlight?

The token has risen about 167% in a month and trades near $4.94, according to CoinGecko. Over a year the gain is more modest, around 81%. The fund launched at a peak of interest in the coin.

NEAR is a layer-1 blockchain for decentralized applications. In 2024 the network shifted its focus to artificial intelligence, and later began betting on cross-chain infrastructure and autonomous AI agents. Hougan told Cointelegraph that agents already use the network, but most activity is still human.

BlackRock strengthened the idea. Last week the company published research calling AI a potential "structural catalyst" for digital assets. Programmable money suits frequent small payments between machines that run around the clock.

What is Intents, and what does the Bitget hack have to do with it?

NEAR Intents is a cross-chain protocol. A user or an AI agent describes what they want, and independent executors (solvers) compete for the right to carry out the operation across the needed blockchains. According to Bitwise, volume through Intents has passed $32 billion, against less than $1 billion a year ago.

According to Hougan, the design of Intents matches the goal-based orientation of large language models and shields them from the complexity of bridges between networks. That is why Bitwise sees AI agents as a growing use case for NEAR.

"Bridging and cross-chain abstraction has been a challenge for crypto for nearly a decade, and a lot of people have lost both time and money trying to navigate that space."

- Matt Hougan, chief investment officer at Bitwise, in a comment to Cointelegraph

This week the protocol made the news for another reason. NEAR Intents said it blocked attempted transfers of more than $50 million tied to the $387.5 million hack of Bitget. Its SHIELD system froze about $503,000 during execution. Roughly $166,000 of suspected stolen funds still passed through the protocol.

What does the fund change for an investor?

NRR offers a straightforward way to hold NEAR in a portfolio without keys or wallets. But the asset has not become calmer. If a token climbs 167% in a month, a sharp drop is just as possible.

How much money will flow into the fund is unknown for now. The first weeks of trading will show whether real demand stands behind it.

Anyone who already holds NEAR in a wallet loses nothing and gains nothing from the fund. NRR is an extra entry point for people who find it easier to work through a broker than through a crypto exchange. It also arrived after a 167% rally, so some buyers are stepping in at elevated prices.