NEAR Protocol Rises 24.52% Amid AI Integration and Privacy Features

NEAR Protocol (NEAR) rose 24.52% on July 18, with its all-time high reaching $3.4627 and closing at $3.4500 according to ChartExch. CoinGecko reported a previous close of $3.15 on July 17, showing price variations based on exchange data.

The rally was attributed to NEAR AI's staking-based payment structure, which allows users to earn computing credits for private inference and agent hosting by staking NEAR tokens. While CryptoNews reported support for 43 AI models, the official NEAR AI announcement did not specify this number.

Privacy features also played a role as NEAR announced Confidential Intents' total value locked (TVL) exceeded $70 million on July 17, triggering the first NEAR@3.33 snapshot. Eligible users will receive 333,333 milestone tokens if NEAR's three-day volume-weighted average price (VWAP) stays above $3.33.

Market indicators showed a 131.81% increase in spot trading volume to $1.63 billion, a 39.54% rise in open interest to $924.66 million, and a 101.79% jump in derivatives volume to $1.85 billion, per AMBCrypto.

Technical analysis highlighted $2.82 as a key support level, with NEAR breaking above it before reaching $3.461. Analysts noted a fair value gap between $3.65 and $4.20 but emphasized this was not a price target.