- NEAR Protocol became the second leading Layer-1 blockchain by monthly active users, reaching 46 million in May 2025.
- Unique users, TVL, volume, total swaps, and assets supported on the protocol also rose contrary to NEAR’s price.
Near Protocol [NEAR] posted explosive on-chain growth in Q2 2025, yet the token remained stuck in bearish territory.
As of press time, NEAR had dropped 4%, despite clear signs of ecosystem expansion. This raised the pressing question: Can surging network activity finally lift price action?
What’s driving protocol’s rising on-chain metrics?
For Q2 2025 data, NEAR Protocol became second in terms of Layer-1 blockchain by monthly active users, overtaken only by Solana.
The 46 million users on NEAR as the second quarter came to a close pointed to an increasing usage and an app-level activity.
Its share grew faster than that of Sui [SUI], BNB Chain, TRON [TRX], Ethereum [ETH], and Avalanche [AVAX], respectively, as indicated by the chart from Artemis and Bitwise.
Most chains were on the downward spiral in terms of user share, with AVAX and SEI being insignificant.
This energy further solidified NEAR as a serious L1 competitor and could attract more developers, liquidity, and ecosystem development.
Source: Artemis, Bitwise Europe
NEAR’s on-chain traction wasn’t limited to users.
The NEAR Intents protocol processed $88.85 million in volume over the past 30 days, with over 326,000 total swaps. Cumulative volume has now crossed $195 million.
Moreover, in the past 24 hours alone, $1.26 million of volume changed hands, and there were 802 distinct users.
In the 7 days, there were 5,114 unique protocol users, and 30-day unique users were 22,003. The coin also supported 87 assets with a total value locked (TVL) of $13.1 million.
Source: Flipside
This increase correlated with the bullish expectations that indicated a potential 21.9% price upside, which may carry NEAR to a price above $3 by early summer.
The development interest was also going up, with the near Infra Committee investing in AI equipment, decentralized RPCs, and chain abstraction projects.
Such initiatives were establishing it as a leading Layer-1 network to monitor, as the metrics and adoption continued to pick up speed at the convergence of AI and multichain infrastructure.
Will NEAR price follow suit?
However, on-chain NEAR metrics were expanding very fast, yet the price action was reluctant. NEAR was trading at $2.492, having rejected off a falling trendline, as the resistance at $2.80 remained intact.
Price did not manage to break the structure despite the network activity and moved lower.
If the momentum improved and bulls broke above the trendline, NEAR could test $2.80 again or even more after the trendline break.
Source: TradingView
However, if this momentum fades and $2.22 support breaks, the selloff could deepen. This zone is critical—holding it could mark a bottom; losing it could open the door to further losses.
