Bitwise Is Pitching NEAR to Wall Street as an AI Bet

What happened

Bitwise's NRR, described as the first U.S. spot NEAR ETF, drew $35 and 5M on day one. Hunter Horsley and Sal Ternullo explain the demand and NEAR's AI-first pitch.

Confirmed

Global impact / market context

This matters because a new spot NEAR ETF gives ordinary investors an easier way to buy NEAR through a regular brokerage account, potentially widening the buyer base beyond crypto-native exchanges. Bitwise is also branding NEAR around artificial intelligence, which may attract investors seeking AI-linked assets rather than pure cryptocurrency exposure.

Analyst inference

The article frames the launch as a Wall Street pitch, implying competition among crypto firms to package digital assets into familiar ETF wrappers. The $35 and 5M first-day figure suggests meaningful initial demand, though it does not by itself indicate whether that demand will persist after launch promotions fade.

Analyst inference

What to watch

1. Watch whether Bitwise or the article later reports continuing inflows or outflows for NRR after the $35 and 5M first day, since sustained flows would show whether demand lasts beyond launch. Confirmed
2. Watch whether Bitwise expands its NEAR pitch to more Wall Street distribution partners, which could bring the AI-first story to financial advisers and institutional allocators unfamiliar with the token. Proposed
3. Watch whether NEAR's price and trading volume respond to ETF-related news, because an ETF launch can change who owns the asset and how quickly supply moves between exchanges and custody. Analyst inference

Affected assets

• NEAR — NEAR Protocol

Evidence

• bankless.com