NEAR Protocol Surpasses Avalanche in DEX Volume Amid Security Incident

NEAR Protocol recently edged past Avalanche in daily decentralized exchange (DEX) volume, recording $197.55 million on October 1, 2026, according to DefiLlama. Avalanche followed closely with $193.92 million, highlighting a competitive landscape in the DeFi space.

This surge in NEAR’s activity is largely attributed to its innovative NEAR Intents, an intent-based trading architecture that simplifies the trading process for users. Instead of manually executing trades, users can specify their desired outcomes, allowing the system to determine the best execution path. NEAR Intents has processed over $31 billion in cumulative DEX volume, although the recent daily figure is below its peak of $300 million in mid-September.

However, NEAR faced a setback when its NEAR Intents service was hacked for $3.8 million, prompting the protocol to halt operations temporarily. The exploit targeted the Omni deposit and withdrawal infrastructure, but the vulnerability was quickly patched, and trading resumed shortly after. Despite the incident, NEAR’s total value locked (TVL) remains stable, fluctuating between $194 million and $230 million, driven by interest in liquidity projects like Rhea Finance and privacy features linked to Zcash.

The recent performance of NEAR and the challenges it faces underscore the dynamic nature of the DeFi ecosystem, where security and innovation must go hand in hand. As NEAR continues to attract users with its unique trading model, the implications for both NEAR and Avalanche in the DeFi space are significant.