Should You Buy NEAR Protocol in 2025?

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At HelloSafe, our expert has been monitoring the NEAR Protocol cryptocurrency for over three years. Each month, hundreds of thousands of users across Ireland trust us to analyse market trends and identify the best investment opportunities. Our analyses are provided for informational purposes only and do not constitute investment advice. In accordance with our ethical guidelines, HelloSafe has never purchased NEAR Protocol nor received any compensation from entities associated with its ecosystem.

NEAR Protocol in brief

How much does 1 NEAR Protocol cost?

The price of NEAR Protocol is up this week. As of today, NEAR is trading at approximately €2.23, showing a 24-hour increase of +5.55% and overall stability over the past week. The market capitalisation stands at about €2.72 billion, positioning NEAR at rank #29 among global cryptocurrencies. Over the last three months, the average daily trading volume has been close to €106.2 million, with around 1.22 billion NEAR tokens in circulation, representing a market dominance of 0.22%. NEAR Protocol continues to display notable volatility and potential, making it a cryptocurrency to watch closely on the Irish market.

Our full review of the NEAR Protocol cryptocurrency

Have the latest trends and the three-year evolution of NEAR Protocol really paved the way for a strategic shift in the blockchain AI ecosystem? Leveraging a synthesis of on-chain fundamentals, technical signals, market data, and competitive environment—filtered by our proprietary analytics engine—we present an expert insight into NEAR Protocol’s pivotal moment. So, why might 2025 mark a renewed strategic entry point into the next-generation Layer-1 & AI-driven blockchain sector?

Recent Performance & Market Context

Price Evolution

NEAR Protocol (NEAR) currently trades at $2.42 (as of June 7, 2025), representing an intraday gain of +5.55%. The asset remains significantly down from its January 2022 all-time high of $20.42 (an 88.17% decrease), which notably reflects the correction experienced across risk assets and the crypto landscape over the past cycle. Despite this retracement, short-term volatility has recently edged higher, supported by a sizeable 24h trading volume of $115.3 million and short-lived surges, suggesting renewed tactical interest.

Positive Recent Events

• Network Sharding Upgrade: In March 2025, NEAR upgraded from 6 to 8 shards—an immediate 33% increase in network throughput, strengthening its value proposition as high-performance AI Layer-1.
• AI Integration Breakthroughs: February saw the launch of the Shade Agents—the world's first autonomous on-chain AI agents; June added a landmark partnership with one of the biggest AI firms, directly accelerating real-world Web3/AI convergence.
• Protocol Optimizations: Q1 2025 brought faster finality (now 1.2s) and reduced block times (600ms), pushing NEAR’s infrastructure scalability well ahead of most alt-L1 competitors.

Macro & Sectoral Backdrop

The macro environment for digital assets has shifted positively in 2025, with global appetite for exposure to high-growth, AI-aligned blockchains on the rise. Layer-1s with strong developer activity, cross-chain functionality, and institutional-grade partnerships appear poised to benefit as capital rotates into innovation-driven narratives.

Technical Analysis

Key Crypto Indicators

• RSI (14d): 43—neutral, near oversold, suggesting limited remaining downside and close to potential reversal territory.
• MACD: -0.10—signaling a sell, but flattening, indicating a maturing of the recent downtrend.
• Moving Averages: All major periods (20/50/100/200-day) signal ongoing sell bias, but the current price is only marginally below the closely bunched 20/50/100-day averages ($2.64/$2.63/$2.60), reducing overhead technical resistance if sentiment shifts.

Support & Resistance Levels

• Solid Supports: $2.27 (recent local low), $2.40 (psychological & technical cluster).
• Immediate Resistance: $2.50, then $2.54–$2.56. Clean breakouts above these could trigger rapid order flow due to historically thin trading range in this band.

Momentum & Structure

While the daily trend remains subdued, the asset is consolidating near significant long-term support with growing volume—a pattern often preceding upside volatility. Short-term indicators suggest a compressed risk/reward profile favoring bullish retracement, especially for tactical entries on minor pullbacks.

Fundamental Analysis

Adoption, Partnerships, & Ecosystem Growth

• AI Ecosystem Leadership: NEAR now leads decentralized AI, with over 50 dedicated teams building applications atop its protocol—outpacing comparable Layer-1s both in vision and real deployments.
• Strategic Partnerships: NEAR’s ecosystem is reinforced by deals with Deutsche Telekom, NTT DATA, integration into Nvidia’s GTC, and major AI platform collaborations in 2025—catalyzing further adoption.
• Technological Differentiation: Unique sharding (dynamic scaling), native chain abstraction, and pioneering 'Proof of Response' and Chain Signature schemes directly address both the AI and Web3 scalability trilemma.

Attractive Valuation

• Market Cap: $2.95bn—at a steep discount from the previous cycle, but supported by a fully diluted cap only marginally above circulating supply (~1.25bn NEAR max).
• TVL: $155.9m, despite a recent drawdown, signals robust DeFi underpinnings, especially with Rhea Finance consolidation now controlling 95%+ of TVL.
• Staking Yield: 9.43%—well above peers, further incentivizing long-term holding and ecosystem stability.

Volumes & Liquidity

• Trading Volume: $115.3m daily; high liquidity enhances trader confidence and institutional interest.
• DEX Volume Growth: $17m daily (+101% QoQ), enabling seamless capital movement and composability across DeFi.
• Stablecoin Market Share: $697.2m—a foundation for future growth in ecosystem DeFi/NFTs.

Dominance & Ranking

NEAR remains a consistently top-30 crypto asset by market cap, regarded as the layer-1 of choice for next-wave AI projects—an increasingly relevant value proposition as enterprise, developer, and retail capital rediscover sector leaders.

Bullish Catalysts & Positive Outlook

• IA App Expansion: Exponential growth in live AI-powered dApps, maturing developer ecosystem, and strong community momentum set the stage for sectoral leadership.
• Interoperability Levers: Ongoing roll-out of OmniBridge and seamless integration with top platforms (KyberSwap, Infinex) present unique cross-chain value drivers.
• Protocol Upgrades & Novel Use Cases: Recent and upcoming tech milestones (e.g., increased sharding, ultra-low-finality latency, mainnet agent launches) directly target high-value use cases for both Web3 and enterprise markets.
• Institutional Adoption: Blue-chip partnerships and favorable regulatory winds (esp. in the EU, APAC, US) are likely to underpin sector inflows as compliance and standards solidify.
• Tokenomics: Dynamic staking (inflation 5%, 70% fee burn) gradually exerts deflationary pressure—potentially driving price appreciation as network activity expands.

Investment Strategies Across Horizons

Short Term (Weeks to 3 Months)

• Entry on retests of the $2.27–$2.40 band to maximize risk/reward, capitalizing on likely catalysts from ecosystem announcements or technical reversals.
• Range trading through projected volatility as the market reassesses AI/protocol narratives.

Medium Term (Remainder 2025–2026)

• Accumulation during consolidations below key resistances ($2.50–$2.56), pre-positioning ahead of anticipated major upgrades (e.g., new sharding, AI agent feature rollouts).
• Active staking to optimize yield, with periodic rebalancing as liquidity and DEX incentives increase.

Long Term (2027+)

• Positioning for ecosystem maturity, targeting compounding effects of cross-chain adoption, deeper institutional interest, and AI/DeFi mass-market traction.
• Exposure to protocol governance (via staking/delegation), with upside potential from decentralized innovation as the regulatory and developer environment scales.

NEAR Protocol Price Projections (2025–2029)

Is Now the Right Time to Consider NEAR Protocol?

NEAR Protocol stands at a unique inflection point: its robust architecture, leadership in decentralized AI, and expanding cross-chain ecosystem strongly justify renewed investor interest. The protocol’s convergence of cutting-edge scalability (upgraded sharding, sub-second finality), blue-chip partnerships, and tangible DeFi/AI use cases reflect foundational strengths rarely matched in the Layer-1 universe. Valuation remains attractively discounted while liquidity and staking incentives reinforce longer-term holding.

With its recent technical stabilization near long-term support levels and a pipeline of high-profile releases on the horizon, NEAR Protocol could well embark on a robust upward phase. The consensus across both technical and fundamental metrics is that NEAR Protocol seems to represent an excellent opportunity for investors seeking exposure to the intersection of AI and blockchain, with a risk/reward profile aligned to medium and long-term growth narratives.

NEAR Protocol remains a high-volatility digital asset that offers excellent opportunities for dynamic investment strategies, but nonetheless requires rigorous risk management. The recent uptick in price action demonstrates NEAR Protocol’s capacity for swift, decisive movements—but, as always, evolving macro and sector conditions demand a selective, informed approach.

Key technical levels to watch are $2.27 as immediate support and $2.56 as the next major resistance. The upcoming major protocol upgrade, slated for Q3 2025, could be a decisive catalyst for NEAR Protocol’s future trajectory.

How to buy NEAR Protocol?

It is simple and secure to purchase NEAR Protocol (NEAR) online using a regulated platform, whether you are a beginner or an experienced investor in Ireland. Today, two main methods are available: direct spot buying, whereby you actually own and hold NEAR tokens in your personal wallet, or trading via crypto CFDs, allowing you to speculate on NEAR’s price without owning the underlying coin. Each method has distinct features, risk levels and costs—we break these down for you in detail below, with a dedicated platform comparison further down the page.

Spot Purchase

With spot buying, you purchase real NEAR coins that are transferred directly to your crypto wallet. This gives you full ownership and the ability to use, transfer, or stake your coins as desired. Most regulated Irish or EU platforms charge a fixed transaction fee, typically around €5 per purchase.

Example

If the current price of NEAR Protocol is $2.42 USD (approx. €2.25), a €1,000 investment minus a €5 fee lets you acquire roughly 442 NEAR coins (€995 ÷ €2.25 ≈ 442).

✔️ Gain Scenario

If the NEAR price rises by 10%, the value of your portfolio becomes €1,100. Result: +€100 gross gain, or +10% on your initial investment.

Trading via CFD

CFD (Contract for Difference) trading lets you speculate on NEAR Protocol’s price without owning the coins. You can take long or short positions, and CFDs often allow the use of leverage to amplify both gains and losses. Key costs include the spread (difference between buy/sell price) and an overnight funding fee if the position is held longer than a day.

Example

You open a CFD position on NEAR Protocol with €1,000 and 5x leverage. Your exposure on the market is €5,000.

✔️ Gain Scenario

If NEAR rises by 8%, your position gains 8% × 5 = 40%. Result: +€400 gain on your €1,000 invested (excluding fees).

Final Guidance

Before investing, always compare fees, trading conditions, and the level of service offered by each platform, whether you prefer to buy and hold or to trade with leverage. The choice between spot buying and CFD trading depends on your personal objectives and experience—our comparison tool below will help you select the right platform for your strategy.

Our 7 tips for buying NEAR Protocol

The latest news from the NEAR Protocol

NEAR Protocol announced a strategic AI partnership in June 2025, strengthening its positioning in web3 AI. Over the past week, NEAR Protocol formalized a major new collaboration with an artificial intelligence enterprise to accelerate the adoption and real-world application of autonomous AI agents on-chain. This collaboration not only adds to NEAR’s credibility in the surging AI/blockchain convergence trend but also aligns with the global push for decentralized AI infrastructure, strongly relevant to the growing Irish web3 and tech sector. As Ireland increasingly positions itself as a tech innovation hub, especially within AI and blockchain, this move is likely to resonate positively among Irish digital asset professionals and investors searching for exposure to dual themes of decentralization and advanced automation.

NEAR’s average daily DEX trading volume surged by more than 100% in Q1 2025, signaling expanded DeFi activity. This robust uptick in decentralized exchange activity—now averaging $17 million daily—suggests renewed and possibly diversifying user engagement within the NEAR DeFi ecosystem. The strong DeFi momentum could contribute to increasing liquidity for Irish users and institutions operating in the digital asset space, especially as local regulations gradually become more accommodating to sophisticated DeFi participants following MiCA’s anticipated rollout. While Ireland’s institutional adoption of DeFi remains in its early stages, growing volumes on well-audited blockchains like NEAR may pave the way for further localized DeFi adoption.

Despite broader network activity decline, NEAR reported a notable 5.55% price increase over 24 hours as of June 7. This recent price rebound stands against the backdrop of prolonged downward movement and declining network participation, but demonstrates the token’s potential for responsive upticks amidst constructive ecosystem news or broader crypto risk-on sentiment. For traders and allocators in Ireland—where NEAR is available on leading exchanges like Binance and Coinbase—this highlights the relevance of technical entry points and event-driven price action, even on fundamentally challenged assets, and could inform tactical positioning for those seeking volatility opportunities.

Significant network upgrades, including sharding expansion and faster block times, enhance NEAR’s scalability and technical appeal. Technical upgrades rolled out in early 2025, notably expanding the protocol to eight shards (a 33% capacity boost) and reducing block finality to 1.2 seconds, reinforce NEAR’s prowess as a performant chain for AI and DeFi applications. Such improvements are particularly attractive for web3 developers and venture capital based in Ireland looking to capitalize on efficient, scalable blockchain infrastructure in their innovation investments and pilot projects.

Strategic cross-industry partnerships—Deutsche Telekom, NTT DATA, Nvidia GTC integration—underpin NEAR’s global expansion and profile. These alliances with globally recognized enterprises further validate NEAR’s ambitions and bolster its reputation as a credible blockchain player beyond crypto-native circles. For Irish institutions assessing blockchain’s role in digital transformation strategies, NEAR’s emphasis on enterprise-facing, scalable, and AI-integrated solutions signals a growing maturity in the protocol’s business development approach, providing additional confidence for potential regional and cross-border use cases.

FAQ

P. Laurore

Finance expert

Co-founder of HelloSafe and holder of a Master's degree in finance, Pauline has recognised expertise in personal finance, which she uses to help users better understand and optimise their financial choices. At HelloSafe, Pauline plays a key role in designing clear, educational content on savings, investments and personal finance. Passionate about financial education, Pauline strives, with every piece of content she oversees, to provide reliable, transparent and unbiased information for independent and informed financial management. To this end, she has tested over 100 trading platforms to help internet users make the right choices.