Bitwise Launches First U.S. NEAR ETF
Bitwise is giving U.S. investors direct NEAR exposure through NYSE Arca, with a 0.75% fee and staking in the fund. The launch follows a strong price rally and growth in the European NEAR product.
Key Takeaways
- Bitwise launched the first U.S. spot ETF for NEAR Protocol, with ticker NRR, on NYSE Arca.
- NEAR rose 175.24 percent in 30 days to about $5.04, ahead of the ETF listing.
- Bitwise wants to stake NEAR in the fund and also points to growth in its European NEAR product and the winding down of Dogecoin ETF BWOW.
Bitwise has launched the first U.S. spot ETF for NEAR Protocol. The fund, with ticker NRR, started trading on Tuesday on NYSE Arca, while NEAR had already climbed sharply ahead of the listing and was trading around $5.04 (€4.44).
Price Had Already Run Ahead
The NEAR price rose 175.24 percent in 30 days, from below $2 (€1.76) at the start of September to about $5.04 (€4.44). That made NEAR one of the strongest major cryptos of the month, according to CoinGecko. Most of that gain came in the second half of September, right as the listing was going through its final steps.
NYSE Arca certified the fund's registration on September 28 with the SEC, one day before trading began. That made Bitwise the first firm to give U.S. investors direct exposure to NEAR through a spot ETF. Grayscale filed in January to convert its own NEAR trust into an ETF, but that listing has not happened yet.
What NRR Offers
NRR charges a management fee of 0.75 percent. Bitwise wants to stake the NEAR in the fund itself, so investors also participate in the average staking reward of about 5 percent. For NEAR, staking yields are not fixed in practice; they move with factors like validator commission, network conditions, and the share of tokens that has already been locked up.
Bitwise also positions NEAR as a settlement layer for AI agents that can book, pay, and swap on behalf of users. Chief Investment Officer Matt Hougan said he believes NEAR sits at the intersection of AI and crypto, and that applications like these need infrastructure that is fast and does not depend on a single custodian. The company also points to NEAR Intents, which has now processed more than $32 billion (€28.2 billion), up from less than $1 billion (€0.9 billion) a year ago.
European Demand and Competition
The launch comes alongside growth in Bitwise's European NEAR product, whose assets topped $100 million (€88.1 million) this month. According to the company, that was mainly driven by the higher token price. For European crypto followers, the key point is that the U.S. ETF market is now open to NEAR too, while demand for a similar product in the U.S. had previously gone unanswered.
Bitwise also previously published scenarios for NEAR through 2030. In the base case, the company came out at $155.85 (€137), while the bear case was $1.63 (€1.44) and the max case was $562.81 (€496). Those estimates are not a prediction, but they do show how wide the expectations around the network are. At the same time, Bitwise is also taking another route: the Dogecoin ETF BWOW is being wound down and will stop trading on October 14.
