Near Protocol's cross-chain swap protocol, Near Intents, posted $130.7 million in 24-hour trading volume. Blockchain media outlet U.Today reported on Oct. 19 (local time) that trading volume over the past 30 days totalled $4.59 billion, and cumulative volume since launch topped $35 billion.

The NEAR token traded in a $4.97 to $5.10 range. It also quickly recovered from a short-term decline that had pushed it down to $4.62.

The increase in trading was driven by demand for protected trades. Trades with protection features accounted for 9.4 percent of Near Intents' total monthly volume, or $91.9 million. Fund flows focused mainly on direct cross-chain transfers between Zcash and Bitcoin.

On-chain data also showed large institutional-sized transactions. The funds converted hundreds of thousands of dollars from a shielded Zcash pool into Bitcoin in a single transaction. As a result, the ecosystem's private TVL was in a $151.0 million to $152.0 million range.

Security upgrades also proceeded in parallel. Co-founder Ilya Polosukhin (일리야 폴로수킨) said users can move Near account keys directly to the quantum-resistant ML-DSA standard. Near Wallet is designed to change security standards within the wallet without moving the funds themselves, and it does not require a third-party bridge.

Institutional inflows also continued. Bitwise's spot Near ETF, NRR, recorded net inflows of $2.61 million in a day, taking cumulative net inflows to $83.05 million. Net assets were $82.36 million, equivalent to 1.26 percent of Near's total market capitalisation.

The network also handled the higher trading volume without delays. The number of operators running the decentralised MPC computation system expanded to 17, and block production times stabilised. Room to test a short-term resistance level also increased as selling pressure eased following liquidations of short positions on exchanges.