Autor Cointelegraph by Nate Kostar

Crypto asset manager Bitwise has launched the first US spot exchange-traded product tracking NEAR, giving investors exposure to the token through a fund trading on NYSE Arca.The Bitwise NEAR ETF, trading under the ticker NRR, carries a 0.75% management fee and will hold NEAR directly, with Bitwise intending to stake a significant portion of the fund’s tokens.The launch comes as activity on NEAR Intents, the network’s cross-chain transaction protocol, has increased sharply, with volume rising to more than $32 billion compared with less than $1 billion a year ago, according to Bitwise.Bitwise chief investment officer Matt Hougan told Cointelegraph that the firm sees AI agents as a growing use case for NEAR and has already seen evidence of agents using the network. He expects that activity to increase over time, although most activity on NEAR today remains human-driven.Hougan added that Bitwise has been working on the US NEAR ETF since launching its European NEAR exchange-traded product in June 2025. NRR joins its US lineup of single-asset crypto products tracking Bitcoin (BITB), Ether (ETHW), Solana (BSOL), XRP (XRP) and Hyperliquid (BHYP).The NEAR token has rallied sharply over the past month, gaining about 167% to trade around $4.94 on Tuesday, according to CoinGecko data. The token is up about 81% over the past year.NEAR price. Source: CoinGeckoAI agents put crypto payment rails in focusNEAR is a layer-1 blockchain for decentralized applications that shifted its strategy toward AI in 2024 and has since focused increasingly on cross-chain infrastructure and autonomous AI agents.The shift comes as major financial institutions examine how autonomous software could drive demand for blockchain-based payment infrastructure. Last week, BlackRock said in a research paper that AI agents could increase demand for stablecoins, cryptocurrencies and tokenized assets as machine-to-machine transactions become more common.BlackRock described AI as a potential “structural catalyst” for digital asset adoption, arguing that programmable assets could be suited to high-frequency, low-value transactions that operate around the clock.NEAR is seeking to capture some of that activity through Intents, which allows users and AI agents to specify a desired transaction while third-party solvers compete to execute it across supported blockchains.“The design of Intents, for instance, aligns with the goal-based orientation of LLMs, and shields them from the complexity of bridging and other challenges,” Hougan told Cointelegraph.Hougan also pointed to cross-chain usability as a key factor behind Intents’ growth. “Bridging and cross-chain abstraction has been a challenge for crypto for nearly a decade, and a lot of people have lost both time and money trying to navigate that space,” he said.The protocol’s role in moving assets across blockchains came into focus this week after NEAR Intents said it blocked more than $50 million in attempted transfers linked to the $387.5 million Bitget hack. Its SHIELD system froze about $503,000 during execution, while roughly $166,000 in suspected stolen funds passed through the protocol.Magazine: Peter Brandt says Bitcoin may hit $600K by 2029, calls XRP a ‘fool coin’

OG.com Markets is seeking US regulatory approval to offer perpetual futures tied to individual stocks, as trading platforms push to bring the popular derivatives product to US equity markets.In a Thursday filing with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), OG.com proposed new rules allowing it to list cash-settled single-stock futures that never expire and can trade 24 hours a day, five days a week.OG.com was recently spun out of crypto exchange Crypto.com as an independent prediction markets and derivatives platform valued at $5 billion. At the time, CEO Kris Marszalek said the platform planned to expand beyond prediction markets into futures and perpetual contracts.Shortly after the spin-off, Robinhood took an equity stake in OG.com as part of a multi-year deal to use its CFTC-regulated derivatives exchange and clearinghouse for prediction markets.Unlike traditional futures contracts, perpetual futures, or “perps,” have no expiration date, allowing traders to maintain exposure without periodically rolling into new contracts. The product was pioneered in crypto by BitMEX in 2016.Related: President Trump’s media company to terminate Crypto.com dealPerpetual futures push expands into US stocksCrypto trading platforms and prediction markets are increasingly looking to bring one of the digital asset market’s most popular derivatives products to US stocks, with OG.com joining a growing group seeking regulatory approval.On Sept. 18, Coinbase, Kraken parent Payward through its Bitnomial exchange, and prediction market Kalshi all filed to offer perpetual futures tied to individual US stocks.The filings came after US regulators, including the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and CFTC, pushed ahead with crypto initiatives despite the CLARITY Act failing to advance in the Senate on Sept. 15.Source: Paul AtkinsJust days after the vote, the SEC cleared limited onchain trading of tokenized US stocks under its Innovation Exemption, while the CFTC expanded regulatory relief for software providers connecting users to regulated derivatives platforms, including those offering perpetual contracts.The CFTC had already begun laying the regulatory groundwork for perpetual futures months earlier.In May, the agency established a case-by-case review process for perpetual contracts and approved Kalshi’s Bitcoin perpetual futures product, followed in June by temporary relief allowing certain registered exchanges to convert existing crypto futures into contracts without expiration dates.Magazine: Exchanges reporting crypto gains to IRS becomes tax nightmare

Strategy is seeking shareholder approval to move its four preferred stocks, including STRC, to daily dividend payments without changing their dividend rates or the total amount paid.The company’s board approved the proposal on Thursday, according to a Friday filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Shareholders are scheduled to vote on the amendments at a virtual special meeting on Oct. 28.If approved, each calendar day would become a dividend record date, with the corresponding payment made on the next business day. STRC would move to the new schedule first, with its initial daily dividend payment expected on Nov. 2.STRF, STRK and STRD would follow in January, with their first payments under the daily schedule expected on Jan. 4. The amendments would take effect after Strategy files updated certificates governing the preferred stocks with the state of Delaware.Related: Strategy buys 950 Bitcoin for $76M, repurchases $174M in STRCStrategy follows Strive into daily dividendsStrategy’s proposal comes several months after fellow Bitcoin treasury company Strive moved its SATA preferred stock to daily dividend payments, becoming the first public company to adopt the model.Strive announced in May that SATA would begin paying dividends every business day on June 16 at a 13% annual rate, and also reported that it eliminated its outstanding debt in the first quarter.Unlike Strive’s business-day schedule, Strategy’s proposal would make every calendar day a record date, with the corresponding dividend payable on the following business day.Strive holds 26,355 Bitcoin, compared with Strategy’s 846,000 BTC, according to BitcoinTreasuries.NET.Top 10 Bitcoin treasury companies. Source: BitcoinTreasuries.NETStrategy CEO says leverage drove STRC below $100While Strive was the first public company to offer daily dividends, Strategy pioneered what it calls “digital credit,” preferred securities designed to generate income from a capital structure built around the company’s Bitcoin treasury.STRC, a key part of Strategy’s digital credit strategy, has seen significant price swings this year. In June, the stock fell sharply below its $100 stated amount, hitting an intraday low of $71.25 on June 26, according to Yahoo Finance data.STRC stock price year-to-date. Source: Yahoo FinanceSpeaking on Natalie Brunell’s Coin Stories podcast earlier this week, Strategy CEO Phong Le attributed the decline to more leverage entering the market for STRC than the company had anticipated. He said some investors borrowed against Bitcoin at lower rates to buy STRC and capture the spread between their borrowing costs and STRC’s dividend yield.When Bitcoin’s price fell, investors who had borrowed against their holdings faced pressure to either add more collateral or sell STRC, according to Le.“We did not expect the amount of leverage that came into the system,” Le said. “And so that’s a lesson learned, next time around.”Le said Strategy is seeking to prevent another such unwind by maintaining a strong US dollar reserve and having a policy that allows the company to repurchase STRC when it trades below its $100 stated amount. He also said the company wants to attract more long-term holders, particularly institutional investors.STRC has since recovered to about $98.41, close to Strategy’s stated goal of keeping the security between $99 and $100. It currently carries a 12% variable annual dividend rate.Magazine: Exchanges reporting crypto gains to IRS becomes tax nightmare

The Federal Reserve has proposed capital, redemption and other regulatory requirements for stablecoin issuers under its supervision as it moves to implement the GENIUS Act.The GENIUS Act already requires stablecoin issuers to maintain reserves backing their tokens on a one-to-one basis and limits the types of assets they can hold, including cash, bank deposits and short-term US Treasurys. The law left federal regulators to establish more detailed capital, reserve-diversification and risk-management requirements.Under the Fed proposal, issuers would face an operational-risk capital charge equal to 2% of the first $20 billion in stablecoins outstanding, 1.5% of the next $30 billion and 1% of amounts above $50 billion, along with additional capital requirements tied to credit and operational risks.Issuers would generally be required to process redemptions within two business days. If reserves fall below the required one-to-one backing, an issuer would have to notify the Fed and either restore its reserves under a remediation plan or liquidate them and redeem outstanding stablecoins.Issuers would also have to publish monthly reports detailing their outstanding stablecoins and the value and composition of their reserves. The disclosures would have to be examined by a registered public accounting firm and certified by the issuer’s CEO and CFO.A separate proposal would establish an application process for Fed-supervised banks seeking approval to issue payment stablecoins through subsidiaries, including requirements to submit a business plan and financial information.The proposals are open for public comment for 60 days after publication in the Federal Register.Related: EU banking watchdog calls for crypto lending rules under MiCABarr says stablecoins must remain redeemable during market stressFed Governor Michael Barr supported the proposal on Thursday but said further work would be required for stablecoins to become reliable payment instruments.“Stablecoins will only be stable if they can be reliably and promptly redeemed at par in a range of conditions. This includes during market stress, when pressure can be put on the value of even otherwise liquid government debt, and during episodes of strain on the individual issuer or its related entities,” Barr said.Barr added that he was encouraged by the proposed limits on reserve assets and standardized capital requirements, while calling for public feedback on whether the framework adequately addresses interest-rate and foreign-currency risks.He also said universal redemption rights should be clearly established in the final rule and raised concerns about a standard that would prevent the Fed from taking supervisory or enforcement action over an anti-money laundering deficiency unless the issue is considered “significant or systemic.”The GENIUS Act is set to take effect on Jan. 18, 2027, or 120 days after federal regulators issue final implementing rules, whichever comes first.Magazine: Winners and losers of the SEC’s new tokenized stocks rules

Cointelegraph is committed to providing independent, high-quality journalism across the crypto, blockchain, AI, and fintech industries.All news, reviews, and analyses are produced with full journalistic independence and integrity. For more details on our standards and processes, please read our Editorial Policy.