Crypto: NEAR Surges 80% as Private Swaps Take Off

According to CoinGecko data, the NEAR token has just achieved one of the most remarkable performances in the crypto market. In just one week, this digital asset saw its value increase by nearly 80%. Behind this movement, one data point particularly catches the attention of investors and crypto analysts: NEAR Intents surpasses 29.3 billion dollars in cumulative volume.

Crypto NEAR: a 78.2% jump that crushes the market

Monday, September 21, 2026, the NEAR token was trading around $4.29. At the time of writing this article, its price is about $4.36 with a slight decrease.

According to CoinGecko data, the NEAR crypto records an increase of:

• 78.2% over seven days;
• 22% over the last 24 hours.

By comparison, the total market capitalization of crypto only grew about 6% during the same period. In other words, NEAR does not follow the general trend: it shatters it. Analysts agree on one point: the current NEAR momentum cannot be attributed solely to a generalized rebound of digital assets. This crypto token appears to have its own catalysts.

Good to know: NEAR is now among the top AI cryptos of 2026.

NEAR bets on the privacy of its crypto transactions

Thursday, September 18, 2026, NEAR Protocol made an important announcement: deposits related to perpetual contract trading on near.com are now confidential by default. The same applies to withdrawals.

Specifically, this new crypto feature hides the link between a trader’s funding wallet and their dedicated account on Hyperliquid. In other words, no more easy traceability between the money going in and the positions coming out.

That’s not all! On the same day, near.com announced via an official press release that its confidential TVL (total value locked under this new mechanism) exceeds 70 million dollars. This threshold triggered the very first “snapshot” of the [email protected] program. It is an incentive device that allocates 333,333 tokens for its first distribution. The principle is simple: these crypto assets unlock and convert to NEAR only if the volume-weighted average price (VWAP) over three days reaches at least $3.33.

NEAR Intents nears 30 billion dollars, Zcash enters the equation

NEAR Intents allows users to request cross-chain swaps. This crypto mechanism is based on a simple concept: several market makers compete to execute the best possible execution.

Monday, September 21, 2026, the official NEAR Intents explorer shows about 29.3 billion dollars in cumulative volume. 842 million dollars were generated in just the last week. This information is particularly important as ZODL ranks as the third largest volume contributor over 24 hours. Focused on privacy, this crypto wallet specialized in Zcash displays approximately 3.8 million dollars spread over 458 transactions. A single swap of about $613,000 in ZEC was also among the largest crypto transactions of the day on the explorer.

Camran Khosravi, analyst at Bitwise, summarizes the relationship between the two crypto networks in a simple phrase: NEAR and Zcash are complements. According to him, NEAR offers ZEC holders:

• a confidential cross-chain infrastructure;
• access to liquidity.

However, he points out an important nuance: the TVL of NEAR Intents can mechanically rise when the price of ZEC already deposited in the system increases (even without new deposits). A detail worth keeping in mind before crying structural volume explosion!

Beyond crypto trading: NEAR AI also focuses on privacy

This shift towards privacy is not limited to crypto exchanges. As early as July, NEAR AI launched a payment system based on staking. Users can now stake their NEAR tokens to receive credits. This allows them access to confidential AI inference and agent hosting. At the same time, they retain ownership of their underlying tokens.

One question remains open: does this price surge hold over time or is it a hype related to the novelty of the product? Already, crypto experts agree on one point: the next test for NEAR will be less spectacular than the 78.2% figure. In reality, the crypto market will need to verify if the use of NEAR Intents continues to grow after the announcement effect. The same goes for cross-chain liquidity and privacy features.

The trajectory of this crypto will therefore depend on several very concrete indicators:

• actual volumes;
• use of the infrastructure;
• trader activity;
• new flows;
• NEAR’s ability to transform its products into recurring usage.

In any case, NEAR has proven that a clear bet on privacy can launch a crypto in just a few days. It remains to be seen if the link built with Zcash and the rise of Intents will be enough to turn this flash in the pan into a lasting trend or if the crypto market will quickly return to a calmer pace.