NEAR's DeFi Surges 150% in 2024, Price Drops 60% Amid AI Bubble Burst

NEAR Protocol's DeFi surged 150% in 2024, driven by bullish market sentiment following the U.S. elections in November. The chain's DeFi TVL (total locked value) jumped from below $100M at the end of Q3 2024 to $240M by the last quarter, indicating increased investor interest and confidence.

However, DeFi TVL slowed slightly in the last quarter, and NEAR showed mixed price performance over the same period. In the first half of 2024, NEAR price jumped 160%, but it tanked last summer and only bounced back post-U.S. elections with a 72% gain. The December sell-off erased all the post-U.S. elections gains and dragged NEAR to 2024 lows of $3 after a 60% dump.

As an AI-centric chain, part of the early 2025 NEAR losses could be attributed to the burst of the AI bubble following the debut of OpenAI's competitor and relatively low-cost Chinese AI chatbot DeepSeek. Like most chains, NEAR's price strongly correlated to daily active addresses and DEX volume, which spiked during rallies but dropped during drawdowns.

The NEAR price drop from $8 to $3 was marked by a steady decline in daily active addresses and DEX volumes. As of this writing, the two metrics were yet to show a decisive recovery and could keep NEAR muted, especially if macro uncertainty persists. However, the weekly timeframe chart showed that NEAR made a likely bottom around $3, and if the trend repeats, NEAR's immediate recovery target could be $4.7 or $5. Nevertheless, a crack below the support could push the altcoin to $2.