Bitwise has officially registered a $NEAR ETF in Delaware

Asset manager Bitwise has registered a Near Protocol ETF in Delaware. This move shows that the company plans to apply for an NEAR ETF with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

This is usually the first step in filing to offer a spot ETF. Hence, the asset manager will likely send the S-1 and 19b-4 forms for this Near ETF to the government next. These papers will officially start the process for the SEC to either say no to the fund or say yes to it. 

JUST IN: 🇺🇸 Bitwise registers $NEAR ETF in Delaware. pic.twitter.com/xSsdvh7pmU

— Mayank Dudeja (@imcryptofreak) April 25, 2025

According to information on Delaware’s official state website, the firm registered a new entity called Bitwise NEAR ETF on April 24.

NEAR has a market value of about $3.17 billion right now. It is the 34th-biggest crypto by market value, and it calls itself “the blockchain for AI.”

Also, this is the first time that any institution has tried to bring a NEAR-focused ETF to the US market. If successful, it could shift the needle in terms of broader institutional exposure to the protocol.

Bitwise jumps to the frontline for approvals as Paul Atkins takes charge

Bitwise has already applied to the commission for Solana, XRP, Dogecoin, and Aptos ETFs. It wants to offer more than just Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs.

The XRP and Solana ETFs are reportedly closest to SEC approval. These two altcoins are ahead of other altcoins because they both have trading markets. Both of them secured trading markets with the CME Group. CME has already launched Solana futures, and XRP is awaiting its launch on May 19.

Bitwise appears to be getting ready to expand as the SEC looks more open to the crypto business now that Trump is in office and Paul Atkins, a pro-crypto chairman, was inaugurated. 

However, the SEC has shown that it is not in a hurry to approve any of these ETFs. It has given itself until the middle of October. Recently, the commission put off making a decision on Grayscale’s Polkadot ETF proposal.

It’s still not clear when Bitwise will file for the Near Protocol ETF with the SEC, but it could be a good sign for NEAR price, which went up over 5% immediately after the Delaware registration was made public. It is on a 7-day gain trajectory of over 27%.

A bullish week for crypto AI 

The crypto AI field is coming back to life. The total market value has grown by more than one-third in the last two weeks. On-chain data shows that the sector’s market value peaked at $70.42 billion in mid-January and then quickly fell back to earth, hitting a low point of $21.46 billion on April 9. It is now back up to $32 billion, with most of the growth happening in the last week.

In a week, other than Near’s surge, Render is up 14%, the Artificial Superintelligence Alliance is up 40%, and Bittensor is up 42%. Also, ICP is up 12%, and Filecoin is up 16%. This week, the crypto sector as a whole has mostly enjoyed a bull rally led by the giant crypto, Bitcoin.

Analysts presume that the rally was based on Paul Atkins, but the success of the AI crypto sector came right after a CoinGecko report on April 17. It found that five of the top 20 crypto narratives are about AI, which got 35.7% of global investor interest and more than the 27.1% share of six memecoin narratives.

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