NEAR Protocol has activated a NIST-approved post-quantum signature scheme on its mainnet, marking a first for any production blockchain. The upgrade, announced on July 20th, also introduces dynamic resharding for automatic network scaling. The protocol is positioning itself for “agentic commerce” by building an integrated stack for an agent economy. This structural shift was first announced in February 2026. Despite the technical milestone, NEAR’s price has declined 13.5% from a local high of $2.06 on July 21st, with the altcoin posting nearly 3% losses in the last 24 hours. Analysts note the TD Sequential indicator has flashed a buy signal on the 4-hour chart, though the higher timeframe trend remains bearish.
NEAR Protocol has become one of the first blockchains to deploy a NIST-approved post-quantum signature scheme in production. The Layer 1 AI-native settlement layer also launched dynamic resharding, which allows the network to scale automatically.
NEAR is building an open, integrated stack for the agent economy. The protocol intends to bring identity, liquidity, private inference, confidential execution, settlement, governance, and economics to this system.
This announcement marks a structural shift for the protocol that was first revealed in February 2026. The upgrade comes amid an ongoing bear market with pessimistic wider market sentiment.
In the last 24 hours, the altcoin has posted losses of nearly 3%. Its Open Interest has slid by 4.1%, though daily trading volume saw a marginal uptick of 5.5%.
Since forming a local high at $2.06 on July 21st, the token’s price has declined by 13.5%. The TD Sequential indicator gave a buy signal for NEAR on the 4-hour chart after a previous sell signal on July 21st was vindicated.
Fibonacci retracement levels highlighted NEAR’s rejection from the $2.80-$3.00 range as coming from the 78.6% retracement zone. The rally in May was only a retracement that has since begun to reverse itself.
For nearly two months, bulls have defiantly held the $1.80-support zone. However, the Chaikin Money Flow (CMF) showed signs of significant selling pressure, with the Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) underlining downward momentum.
A drop below $1.80 would signal a bearish trend continuation. A price bounce beyond $2.10 is needed to instill temporary bullish confidence.
