Near Protocol Becomes a Leader in AI on the Crypto Market

Near Protocol (NEAR) has become a leader in the artificial intelligence segment of the crypto market amid capital outflows triggered by the rhetoric of the U.S. Federal Reserve. According to market maker Wintermute, the main beneficiary of the change in market sentiment was Near Protocol, which managed to take a leading position in the AI segment amidst the decline of key tokens. The crypto market, deprived of such fundamental support, faced weekly outflows: $679 million from Bitcoin ETFs (the largest since June) and $542 million from Ethereum ETFs. At the same time, CoinGlass recorded forced liquidations amounting to $1.19 billion, of which $1.06 billion were long positions. As a result, Bitcoin fell by 3.2%, and Ethereum by 7% after an Ethereum fund researcher urged users to change addresses immediately.

The biggest hit was on altcoins, where the median decline was 3.7%, and the recent leader UNI plummeted by 15.8%. Out of the 66 largest projects, only 11 closed with a positive result. However, this crisis situation demonstrated an important trend: investors did not flee to fiat but changed their preferences, directing capital exiting from classic DeFi platforms into tokens associated with artificial intelligence technologies. Near became the absolute leader of this movement. Historically aimed at AI-blockchain, the project ignored general market storms and, after a symbolic fall, took a leading position in the segment, continuing aggressive growth. Wintermute highlights two key factors contributing to this momentum: the news of a technological event (the network implemented support for post-quantum digital signatures to enhance security) and market mechanics. Bears attempted to short NEAR, leading to a powerful short squeeze - a forced buyback of short positions, which accelerated the token's growth.

Nevertheless, Wintermute believes that now is not the time to take risks in the market. The sustainable yields of U.S. government bonds and the capital inflow into Bitcoin ETFs need to stabilize before it is justified to acquire altcoins on corrections. Attention is shifting to fresh U.S. inflation data (CPI) and financial reports of tech giants, which will determine whether the global AI trend remains a source of liquidity in this sector.