NEAR Protocol [NEAR] is in the news for all the good reasons. According to reports, the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem of NEAR is seeing increased activity through its cross-chain swap product, NEAR Intents, which has generated enough revenue to fund nearly $2.7 million worth of NEAR token buybacks in the Q4 of 2026.
Interestingly, this figure is already close to the $3.07 million spent on buybacks in Q3 2026, although half of Q4 is still left. So for those unaware, the buyback program began in February 2026. Since then, the protocol has purchased approximately $8 million worth of NEAR tokens.
NEAR Intents steals the spotlight
In fact, so far now, NEAR Intents has collected approximately $8.68 million in fees since the 1st of October. Of this amount, around $2.82 million has been retained by the protocol, while the remaining $5.86 million has gone to solvers and partner applications.
According to Token Terminal data, revenue started around $315K in December 2025, climbed to a first peak of roughly $740K in February 2026, then fell sharply to around $200-240K between April and July, before rebuilding through the autumn to $650K in September. Finally, it crossed the $1 million mark in October.
This means that NEAR Intents is the main revenue driver, contributing roughly 74% of October’s total and the bulk of revenue in nearly every month, while the base protocol’s contribution stays relatively small and steady at around $30-260K.
That said, the platform recorded $3.76 billion in swap volume over the past 30 days, taking its cumulative volume since launch to approximately $37.3 billion. However, sustained buyback activity does not necessarily guarantee price appreciation.
Price action sparks concerns, but…
The recent price action of NEAR trading at $3.51 after a drop of 2.6% in the past 24 hours reflected the same. At the same time, the NEAR ETFs also saw outflows worth $5.74 million in the month of November so far.
Yet despite these weak market dynamics, the total value locked (TVL) in NEAR Intents’ confidential pools stood at $140.79 million at press time, up 402.7% over the last 90 days.
That said, the TVL started around $27 million in mid-August and grew steadily through early September, then surged sharply in mid-to-late September, peaking at roughly $185 million around 25-26 September.
After that peak, it pulled back and settled into a fairly stable range of about 135 million to 165 million through October and early November, with a minor dip near the end of October. In fact, according to a recent report by AMBCrypto, NEAR Intents recorded $10.41 billion in Q3 trading volume, up 66% quarter-on-quarter and 891% year-on-year.
This, however, coincided with North Korean hackers linked to the $6.3 billion Binance exploit using six memecoins created on NEAR to launder stolen cryptocurrency, moving approximately 117,000 NEAR worth $430,000.
Final Summary
- NEAR Intents collected approximately $8.68 million in fees since the 1st of October 2026.
- NEAR price action was in the hands of sellers, as it was trading at $3.51 after a drop of 2.6% in the past 24 hours.
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