- NEAR rose more than 9% as bulls rode the latest artificial intelligence-driven optimism.
- The Nvidia–OpenAI partnership and a proposed $100 billion investment provide a huge boost to confidence in the ecosystem.
- In the short term, NEAR’s price could target a 200% rally to above $8.20.
The price of NEAR Protocol climbed 9% in the last 24 hours as AI-related developments bolstered investor sentiment.
As AI-focused tokens like AI Companions surged, NEAR’s price jumped more than 9% to intraday highs near $3.15.
The gain represented a sharp rebound from intraday lows, driven by renewed enthusiasm around AI. The rally helped NEAR offset some of the pressure that rattled the broader crypto market following a $1.7 billion liquidation event that produced heavy losses.
NEAR Protocol price jumps on major AI news
NEAR Protocol’s token posted a robust 9% gain on 23 September 2025, bouncing back from recent volatility and trading around $3.15 by midday, according to major exchange data.
The rally followed a consolidation period that saw the token dip below $2.90 earlier in the week amid wider crypto market pressure.
Trading volume also rose noticeably, increasing more than 25% to roughly $370 million as investor confidence in NEAR improved.
At the core of this momentum is NEAR’s strategic positioning as a “blockchain for AI,” a narrative reinforced by recent ecosystem advances.
On 16 September, NEAR announced a key integration with Allora Network, upgrading its Shade Agent infrastructure with predictive AI capabilities.
The collaboration introduces four AI engineering competitions focused on price-prediction challenges across major blockchains, including NEAR, Solana, Bitcoin and Ethereum.
Shade Agents enable autonomous bots to interact across multiple chains while preserving data privacy, illustrating NEAR’s vision to serve as an “execution layer for the AI economy.”
These developments have helped push the combined market capitalization of AI-related tokens above $34 billion.
Developers and capital are returning to leading AI-related projects, and NEAR’s scalable, sharded architecture gives it an advantage.
Nvidia’s $100 billion bet on OpenAI
The bullish mood intensified after a seismic announcement by OpenAI and Nvidia on 22 September 2025 that sent ripples through the AI and crypto sectors.
Nvidia revealed plans to invest up to $100 billion in OpenAI to deploy at least 10 gigawatts of AI data centers powered by millions of its GPUs, calling it “the largest deployment of AI infrastructure in history.”
The first gigawatt is slated for deployment by the end of 2026 using Nvidia’s Vera Rubin platform, with the partnership designed to accelerate OpenAI’s pursuit of more advanced AI systems.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman emphasized the partnership’s role in scaling compute for agentic AI and multimodal applications.
Notably, the announcement not only lifted Nvidia shares by nearly 4%, adding around $170 billion to its market value, but it also amplified the ongoing AI supercycle.
Fueled by this sentiment, NEAR gained about 9% in the past 24 hours and is now up over 16% on the week.
NEAR price outlook
With AI momentum building, analysts expect an upward trajectory for crypto tokens tied to the AI ecosystem. Projects such as Worldcoin, Bittensor and Render have seen significant network growth, and NEAR Protocol is among the platforms drawing attention.
Past upward moves have shown that many tokens at the intersection of AI and blockchain can quickly come to life when sentiment shifts.
Looking into 2025 and beyond, Near Protocol positions itself as one of the leading platforms. Powered by AI integrations, developer adoption and favorable macro winds—such as a recent U.S. Federal Reserve rate cut—its price has been active around key levels.
Short-term network growth indicators and technical strength are important. The daily chart suggests NEAR could retest resistance near $3.50 and potentially push to $4.00 and ultimately $8.20 in a bullish scenario representing roughly a 200% rally.
On the downside, support levels are likely near $2.30 and $1.89.