Deutsche Börse Frankfurt Rings in its First Staked ETP with NEAR Protocol

02 July 2025. Frankfurt: Bitwise today announced the launch of the Bitwise NEAR Staking ETP (Ticker NEAR; ISIN DE000A4A5GV2) on Deutsche Börse Xetra. NEAR Protocol is a blockchain platform known for its approach to scalability, low-cost performance, and a user-first vision of decentralization – powering 45M+ monthly active users and 8M daily transactions.

The Bitwise NEAR Staking ETP is designed for both institutional and retail investors who are familiar with digital assets and seeking to diversify their portfolios. The launch marks another milestone in a series of product innovations designed to broaden investment access to the crypto market, provide high-quality investment solutions and timely market insights, and promote transparency and accountability in what is shaping up to be a landmark year for the crypto industry.

The ETP is fully backed and issued in Germany, designed with the objective to deliver efficient staking returns, low total cost of ownership, and superior performance compared to other NEAR staking ETP solutions currently on the market. Staking yields accumulate daily in the ETP seeking to enhance performance.

The Biwise NEAR Staking ETP is the fourth to be launched as part of Bitwise’s European Total Return product suite including the Bitwise Ethereum Staking ETP (Ticker: ET32 | ISIN DE000A3G90G9), which recently surpassed €200 million in assets under management.

Bradley Duke, Head of Europe at Bitwise, said: “We are so pleased to launch this new ETP in partnership with NEAR. There is a lot of noise in the world of crypto and we are excited to partner with a genuine innovator in both blockchain and AI. The Bitwise NEAR Staking ETP gives investors exposure to price movements in the NEAR token as well as compounded return from staking rewards all with Bitwise’s best-in-class ETP structure.”

Illia Polosukhin, Co-Founder NEAR Foundation: “NEAR was built to power a new kind of internet—one where AI serves people, not platforms. This ETP brings that vision closer to investors worldwide. By making NEAR more accessible through Bitwise’s trusted products, we’re accelerating mainstream adoption of user-owned AI infrastructure.”

NEAR Protocol – a layer-1 blockchain designed for usability and scalability

NEAR Protocol is a blockchain platform designed to make advanced technologies like artificial intelligence more accessible and useful. Launched in 2020, NEAR addresses common challenges in blockchain—like slow speeds and high costs—by using a technology called sharding to process many transactions at once.

What sets NEAR apart is its focus on real-world usability: it lets people access apps and services with usernames—similar to email addresses—rather than traditional Web3 wallet codes. It also operates across different blockchains, aiming to simplify the transfer of assets and data between platforms. NEAR is already being used to power AI tools, digital wallets, and applications that give users greater control over their data and digital identity. Its architecture is particularly well-suited for AI, providing the speed, scalability, and data privacy required to support AI-powered applications and autonomous agents.

In Q2 2025, NEAR ranked #2 in terms of monthly active users, just after Solana. This growth is driven in part by NEAR’s chain abstraction technology, which makes it easier for people to use apps across different blockchains without needing multiple wallets or tokens. With chain signatures, users can access and control accounts on other blockchains directly through their NEAR account, making cross-chain activity simple and intuitive.

Developers also benefit from NEAR’s infrastructure. Its customizable smart contracts support multichain financial applications using secure cryptographic tools—without the need for bridges or wrapped tokens, which can introduce risk and complexity.

Staking NEAR

Staking is a way to generate income for crypto asset owners, and is a key feature for NEAR. On the NEAR Protocol, staking allows token holders to help validate transactions on the network, contributing to its security and reliability. In return, they earn additional tokens – so called staking rewards—similar to how dividends work in traditional equities.

For investors, the Bitwise NEAR Staking ETP may offer a streamlined way to gain exposure to staking rewards without managing the technical aspects of staking or token custody directly. While direct NEAR holders can stake through wallets or validators, the ETP offers distinct benefits—particularly daily liquidity, as it is traded on regulated stock exchanges and involves no lock-up periods or manual delegation. Additionally, the underlying NEAR tokens are held in secure cold storage by a professional institutional custodian, which offers an added layer of asset protection.

Potential investors are advised to carefully review all associated risks as disclosed in the prospectus and final terms available on www.bitwisevinestments.eu before making any investment decisions.

Key Product Details

*The Net Staking Reward reflects the staking return after all fees (Staking Service Fee and TER) have been deducted, on a per-ETP unit basis. This figure represents the return the ETP is expected to deliver, expressed in annualised, non-compounded % terms. Note: The rate is subject to change based on network and market dynamics. The Net Staking Rewards are accumulated daily within the ETP, seeking to enhance performance. This mechanism increases the cryptocurrency entitlement per ETP unit at the end of each trading day, meaning that the amount of NEAR backing each ETP share adjusts upward over time. You can view the current entitlement per ETP unit in the Cryptocurrency Entitlement Table available on the product page at www.bitwiseinvestments.eu/products.

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About NEAR Foundation

NEAR Protocol is the blockchain for AI. A high-performance, AI-native platform built to power the next generation of decentralized applications and intelligent agents. It provides the infrastructure AI needs to transact, operate, and interact across Web2 and Web3. NEAR combines three core elements: User-Owned AI, which ensures agents act in users’ best interests; Intents and Chain Abstraction, which eliminate blockchain complexity for seamless, goal-driven transactions across chains; and a sharded blockchain architecture that delivers the scalability, speed, and low-cost execution needed for real-world AI and Web3 use. This integrated stack makes NEAR the foundation for building secure, user-owned, AI-native applications at internet scale.

About Bitwise

Bitwise is one of the world’s leading crypto specialist asset managers. Thousands of financial advisors, family offices, and institutional investors across the globe have partnered with us to understand and access the opportunities in crypto. Since 2017, Bitwise has established a track record of excellence, managing a broad suite of index and active solutions across ETPs, separately managed accounts, private funds, and hedge fund strategies – spanning both the U.S. and Europe.

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