Arthur Hayes has a knack for moving markets with his words. The BitMEX co-founder and Maelstrom CIO declared NEAR Protocol, Hyperliquid (HYPE), and Zcash (ZEC) the “holy trinity” of crypto on May 22, and NEAR’s token responded by rocketing more than 30% to a six-month high above $2.30.

The rally is especially notable because it happened during a broader market downturn. While Bitcoin and most altcoins were treading water or sinking, NEAR was busy printing green candles. After the initial spike, the token settled into a range around $2.23 to $2.24, still holding the bulk of its gains.

Why Hayes picked these three

Hayes’ “holy trinity” framing wasn’t random. Each of his three picks maps to a different thesis: Hyperliquid represents high-performance trading infrastructure, Zcash offers privacy features, and NEAR brings scalability to the table.

The endorsement carries weight partly because Hayes runs Maelstrom, his family office fund.

HYPE and ZEC also saw sharp rallies on the same day, outperforming Bitcoin in the same timeframe. But NEAR’s 30% move was the standout.

What’s actually happening inside NEAR’s ecosystem

The protocol has a major infrastructure upgrade coming in June 2026, part of network upgrade 2.13, that introduces dynamic resharding. NEAR’s dynamic resharding will automatically add new shards as demand grows, without requiring a governance vote or manual intervention every time the network gets busy.

NEAR has also been investing heavily in artificial intelligence integrations. The ecosystem now includes an AI Agent Market and a confidential GPU marketplace.

On the security front, NEAR is implementing post-quantum security measures.

The Grayscale ETF angle

Perhaps the most significant institutional signal for NEAR comes from Grayscale. The asset manager filed in January 2026 to convert its NEAR Trust into a spot ETF, trading under the ticker GSNR. The application is currently pending SEC approval.

If approved, a NEAR spot ETF would open the door to traditional investors who want exposure to the token without dealing with wallets, private keys, or crypto exchanges.

What this means for investors

The fundamentals case for NEAR is real. Dynamic resharding, AI integrations, post-quantum security, and a pending Grayscale ETF conversion represent a multi-layered growth narrative.

Investors watching this space should track the June 2026 resharding rollout and the SEC’s progress on the GSNR application as the two catalysts most likely to determine whether NEAR’s rally has legs.