This Top AI Cryptocurrency Was Up 115% in May. But Is It a Buy?

NEAR Protocol (CRYPTO: NEAR) gained 115% in May 2026, making it a top performer in the cryptocurrency space. After five years of relative obscurity, it seems now everyone wants to talk. NEAR has become the belle of the blockchain ball.

NEAR tapped into the ongoing agentic AI mania, but in a healthy way. The NEAR community is building infrastructure that could matter as artificial intelligence reshapes online transactions.

Image source: Getty Images.

Agents 101 in plain English

AI agents are highly automated software programs that do stuff for you. I don't mean "here's a summary of your email" stuff, but actual tasks. These agents can book flights, execute investment trades, and negotiate contracts with other agents (or humans). Picture a very competent intern who never sleeps, never complains, and never expenses a $47 salad.

For these agents to be useful, they need the ability to transact. I mean pay for things, move money around, and take ownership of other assets. And that's tricky because agents handling your financial life need privacy guarantees that most blockchains weren't built to provide.

NEAR's Intents product addresses this. Users specify the outcomes they desire; the automated protocol sets up an action plan and handles execution. According to crypto management firm Grayscale, Intents has processed over 25 million transactions totaling more than $20 billion since its launch in the first quarter of 2025. As of June 19, it had handled $70 million of agentic transactions in the last 24 hours.

Those aren't PowerPoint planning numbers; that's actual usage.

Why not just use Ethereum or Solana?

The AI agent opportunity isn't exclusive to NEAR, but this blockchain protocol has architectural advantages.

For instance, you might consider running AI agents on the larger and better-known Ethereum or Solana platforms instead. But NEAR has something they don't: privacy infrastructure baked in from the start.

The IronClaw framework integrates with NEAR AI's private inference infrastructure, letting agents execute your tasks while keeping the underlying financial data, login credentials, and real-world activity encrypted. NEAR's founding team has AI and machine learning roots dating back to 2017, long before the AI frenzy that started with ChatGPT in November 2022. The experience and privacy focus show in NEAR's product architecture.

The catch

A 115% gain in a month is a lot. That kind of move attracts momentum traders, speculators, and people who heard about NEAR from their cousin's favorite podcast. Some of that enthusiasm will fade. Volatility is pretty much guaranteed.

And the whole AI agent economy remains mostly theoretical. The trillion-dollar projections floating around assume that a lot goes right. And I can't guarantee that it will.

The verdict

NEAR's sudden price spike has echoes of classic hype cycles. Talking about agentic AI today is like running a dot-com business in 1999, mining Bitcoin in 2018, or selling medical marijuana in 2012. Many so-called AI agent companies are in it for the keyword hype, and they can't back it up with actual expertise.

I would argue that NEAR Protocol is different. There's real product traction and a technical thesis that makes sense. It isn't vaporware, and early investors could make plenty of money in the long run.

That said, I'm not ready to back up the encrypted truck. The 115% spike started a potentially unhealthy round of speculation. I'd rather wait until the overly excited NEAR chatter dies down before committing significant cash to this cryptocurrency. At the same time, a small, speculative position makes sense for investors who buy the AI agent thesis and can stomach the inevitable ups and downs.

Anders Bylund has positions in Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Bitcoin, Ethereum, NEAR Protocol, and Solana. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.