NEAR Protocol surged toward USD 3.50 on Friday as traders pushed the token 30.8% higher over 24 hours, while a new confidentiality feature added fresh momentum to its September rally.
CoinGecko data captured at 04:16 UTC also showed NEAR up 46.1% over seven days, 78.9% over 14 days, and 120.1% over one month. Its market value reached about USD 4.575 billion, while daily trading volume rose to USD 1.786 billion. The token also gained about 29% against Bitcoin during the same period, indicating NEAR outperforming the broader crypto market rather than simply following Bitcoin higher. CoinMarketCap separately placed NEAR near USD 3.44, up 27.6%, with a daily range between USD 2.64 and USD 3.45.
Confidential Perpetual Trading Adds a New Catalyst
NEAR Protocol announced on September 17 that perpetual positions on near.com had become confidential by default. Users can open leveraged positions from existing accounts without publicly linking each position to the account. The change makes confidentiality the default for those trades, although perpetual trading was already available in the ecosystem through Hyperliquid.
NEAR’s Confidential Intents documentation says the system uses a dedicated private NEAR shard with a Trusted Execution Environment-based bridge connecting that shard to mainnet. The design can keep order size, trade direction, and other transaction details away from the public mempool. Selective disclosure remains possible, allowing traders to keep sensitive activity private while retaining the option to reveal information when needed.
NEAR Intents Connects More Than 35 Blockchains
Funding does not depend only on assets held on NEAR. The interface supports more than 35 blockchains, while NEAR Intents routes activity between networks. This structure reduces several steps that can occur when users move assets across wallets and chains. The platform can shield information such as position size, entry levels, and trading activity from outside observers. At the same time, traders can use assets from supported networks without first moving every position into a single ecosystem.
NEAR supplies the privacy and cross-chain layer for the product, while Hyperliquid handles the underlying perpetual futures execution. The interface supports more than 50 markets and offers leverage of up to 40 times. Hyperliquid has recorded about USD 240 billion in perpetual trading volume over the last 30 days, giving NEAR’s new interface access to an established derivatives trading venue.
Hyperliquid Expansion Adds Broader Market Context
The NEAR launch comes as Hyperliquid draws attention from other market participants. Payward, Kraken’s parent company, has announced plans to launch on-chain perpetual futures based on Hyperliquid for US customers. That planned product would use a structure involving CFTC-regulated Bitnomial Exchange and Bitnomial Clearinghouse, placing Hyperliquid in another derivatives initiative beyond its role in the NEAR product.
Meanwhile, NEAR entered Friday with substantial price gains already in place. Its seven-day and 14-day advances show that the confidentiality announcement arrived during an established September rally rather than at the start of the move. Trading activity also expanded during the rally, with CoinGecko measuring about USD 1.786 billion in 24-hour volume while the token traded near USD 3.50. The price increase, higher volume, and product update marked the latest phase of NEAR’s September advance.
