NEAR rose 183% in September 2026, according to figures Stocktwits attributed to a Grayscale research note. The same report put Grayscale’s Artificial Intelligence Crypto Sector return at 54% and the broader crypto market’s return at 24%. Those are reported monthly comparisons—not evidence that AI activity caused the gains or a guide to future performance.
How NEAR compared with the sector and the broader market
Stocktwits reported the September figures on October 3, 2026, attributing them to a Grayscale note it said was published the previous day. The comparisons are secondary reporting; the figures have not been independently confirmed against the original note.
| Measure | Reported September 2026 return | What it represents |
|---|---|---|
| NEAR Protocol (NEAR) | 183% | One token’s reported monthly gain |
| Grayscale Artificial Intelligence Crypto Sector | 54% | A sector-category return, not an individual token return |
| Broader crypto market | 24% | A broad-market category return |
On those reported figures, the AI crypto sector’s 54% return was more than twice the broader market’s 24% return. NEAR’s 183% gain was much larger, but it should not be treated as an apples-to-apples comparison with either category return: one is a token’s performance, while the others describe groups of assets.
Other AI-linked tokens in the report
Stocktwits also reported these September gains from the Grayscale note:
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| Token | Reported September 2026 gain |
|---|---|
| Venice (VVV) | 70% |
| World (WLD) | 47% |
| Bittensor (TAO) | 37% |
NEAR was the strongest of the four tokens listed in that report. The article does not provide enough detail to reconstruct the sector’s full membership or how any of these returns were calculated.
What Grayscale’s AI-agent thesis says—and does not say
Stocktwits attributed to Grayscale Head of Research Zach Pandl the view that public blockchains could provide “open infrastructure for agent payments, identity, private compute, and verifiable records.” Pandl also said, “we believe the AI sector could produce one or more major winners over the next five years.” These comments describe a possible role for blockchains and a forward-looking investment thesis; they do not establish that these uses are widespread or guarantee that any project will succeed.
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The article also attributes to Pandl the view that AI development remains concentrated among a handful of companies. That observation is not evidence that blockchain infrastructure has already changed the concentration of AI development. Nor does the article show that the proposed agent-related uses drove September’s token moves.
What investors can and cannot conclude
The reported figures describe September 2026, not current prices or returns over another period. They do not identify the causes of the price changes, establish NEAR’s performance beyond that month, or indicate what will happen next. Monthly gains can be volatile, and past performance does not predict future results.
The underlying Grayscale note’s methodology, sector constituents, and precise calculation windows are not available in the Stocktwits report. Treat the numbers as Stocktwits’ account of figures attributed to Grayscale, rather than as independently verified measurements.
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Stocktwits, October 3, 2026 (reporting on a Grayscale research note said to have been published the prior day).
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