NEAR Protocol just quote-tweeted one of the most bullish institutional takes we've seen in months.

Bitwise Europe laid it all out: NEAR isn't trying to build the next ChatGPT.
They're building the trust layer where millions of user-owned AI agents will live, transact, and coordinate — securely, privately, and across every chain.

And the official NEAR account summed it up perfectly:

“NEAR’s infrastructure is now powering early elements of an emerging AI economy.”
— Bitwise Europe

NEAR Intents Powers the AI-Native Transaction Layer

That's not marketing fluff. That's the quiet part said out loud.

Let's break down why this matters so much right now.

The Numbers Don't Lie

NEAR Intents recorded $969 million in weekly trading volume the week of November 10, 2025.

Bitwise looked at the quarter-over-quarter growth (from an already higher base than most people realize) and ran the math:

→ $10 billion weekly volume by June 2026.

Yes, you read that right. 10x+ in roughly seven months.

That chart is the sound of rocket engines igniting.

Why NEAR Wins the AI Infrastructure Race

Most chains are still fighting over DeFi summer 2021 vibes.

NEAR skipped that phase entirely and went straight to Phase 3 of their roadmap: decentralized coordination for AI agents.

Co-founder Illia Polosukhin (co-author of the Transformer paper that literally birthed modern AI) started this whole thing as an AI project before it became a blockchain.

Now everything clicks:

• Chain Signatures → AI agents act on any chain without bridging
• Intents → agents get the best execution automatically
• DCML & MCP → private data vaults and secure memory for agents
• AITP tools → actually shipping, not just whitepaper dreams

Real products already live: Agent Hub, NEAR AI, and early autonomous systems moving serious capital.

While Solana chases speed and Ethereum chases rollups, NEAR is building the layer where the actual AI economy will run.

What This Means for the Token

$NEAR captures value from:

• Intent-routing fees
• Cross-chain messaging
• Storage & compute for AI agents
• Model execution
• Infrastructure services

The more AI agents use the network, the more value accrues to the token. Simple.

And with Intents turning into the central hub for cross-chain value flow, we're looking at network effects on steroids.

Bitwise said it best: this is a significant tailwind for the asset.

The Bottom Line

We're still early.

41.5 million monthly users today are mostly here for Hot Wallet, Ref, and yes — the absolutely degenerate meme coin meta that lives on NEAR.

But the AI flywheel is now spinning up.

When institutional players like Bitwise start writing 400-word threads ending with “NEAR’s infrastructure is now powering early elements of an emerging AI economy,” you pay attention.

The meme degens were right all along — they just showed up to the party first.

The suits are finally walking in.

Buckle up.