NEAR Treasury Firm CEO Says Buybacks Are 'Still Real,' But Issuance Runs Six Times Higher

Tokens bought with fees from NEAR Intents, which Ternullo said has handled over $32 billion in volume, are not burned but are held currently in a "permanent capital vehicle".

• In the last 30 days, buybacks with NEAR Intents fees have been around $1.9 million of new tokens, out of an estimated $13 million.
• Ternullo’s governance proposal would reduce the maximum annual issuance of NEAR from 2.5% to 1.6%.
• Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsley said investors who already own Bitcoin are now asking what other products the firm should own.

NEAR Protocol (NEAR) was in focus on Tuesday after Sal Ternullo, CEO of Nasdaq-listed NEAR treasury company SVRN, said that token buybacks are "still real," but the network was issuing more than six times as much new NEAR as those buybacks removed.

Speaking on the Bankless podcast, Ternullo said fees from NEAR Intents, the network's cross-chain swap service, were being used to buy NEAR on the open market. Those purchases came to about $1.9 million over 30 days. New NEAR issued over the same stretch came to roughly $13 million.

How The Buybacks Work

NEAR Intents has handled more than $32 billion in volume, according to Ternullo. The tokens bought with those fees are not destroyed. They sit in what Ternullo called a “permanent capital vehicle,” and whether they are eventually burned or returned to the ecosystem remains unsettled. He said that the token may not be deflationary.

A token buyback works much like a share buyback. A project spends revenue to buy its own token on the open market, taking supply out of circulation and putting money back into the asset. What happens next decides how much it matters. 

Some projects destroy the tokens they buy, a step known as burning, which removes them permanently. Others hold them, leaving open the possibility that they will return to circulation later. NEAR is doing the latter. That difference was why the comparison with issuance mattered. Burned tokens shrink supply outright, whereas held tokens only pause it.

A Plan To Cut NEAR's Supply

Ternullo has asked validators to close the gap from the other side. His governance proposal would cut NEAR's maximum annual issuance to 1.6% from 2.5% over 24 months, a reduction of more than a third. 

Staking yields would fall to roughly 3.5% from about 5.4%. It would narrow the gap without closing it. At 1.6%, the network would still issue around $8 million of new NEAR a month. Buybacks at their current rate would cover under a quarter of that.

NEAR’s price rose more than 2% over the past 24 hours. The token has more than doubled over the past month, up over 119%. On Stocktwits, the retail sentiment around NEAR remained in the ‘neutral’ zone, while chatter around it stayed at ‘normal’ levels over the past day.

SVRN stock was down over 3% during midday trade. On Stocktwits, the retail sentiment around SVRN moved to ‘bullish’ from the ‘extremely bullish’ zone, while chatter around it stayed at ‘high’ levels over the past day.

What Bitwise Is Selling

None of this has slowed the pitch to institutions. Bitwise chief executive Hunter Horsley said on the same podcast that investors who have grown comfortable with Bitcoin (BTC) are now looking at what else to own. Mainstream buyers no longer rank crypto assets by market capitalization, he said, and NEAR gave them a story they could follow.

The firm put that thesis into a product last week. Its NEAR ETF listed last week as the first US spot fund for the token, and Horsley disclosed on Saturday that he had bought it himself. NEAR has led a broader run in AI-linked tokens, a sector Grayscale said has gained more than double the wider crypto market. 

The ETF drew $35.99 million on its opening day and has taken in $58.89 million in all, holding $60.17 million, or 0.88% of NEAR's market value, according to SoSoValue data. 

NEAR has been up roughly 240% so far this year and gained 67.7% in the last 12 months.

For updates and corrections, email newsroom[at]stocktwits[dot]com.<