NEAR Protocol edges past Avalanche in 24-hour DEX volume

NEAR Protocol just beat Avalanche at its own game, at least for a day. According to DefiLlama, NEAR logged $197.55 million in 24-hour decentralized exchange volume as of October 1, 2026. Avalanche came in at $193.92 million over the same window. The numbers behind the flip By that measure, NEAR outpaced Avalanche on DefiLlama’s chain rankings for spot DEX data. The bigger story is what is powering NEAR’s activity. Much of the momentum traces back to NEAR Intents, the network’s intent-based trading architecture. Instead of manually plotting every step of a trade, a user states the outcome they want, and the system works out how to deliver it. NEAR Intents has processed more than $31 billion in cumulative DEX volume, according to the research findings. Daily volume through the system reportedly topped $300 million at its peak in mid-to-late September 2026. So the $197.55 million figure, while enough to pass Avalanche, actually sits below that recent high. TVL, Rhea Finance and a privacy twist NEAR’s native-chain TVL has recently moved in a range of around $194 million to $230 million. That growth has been tied to rising interest in liquidity projects such as Rhea Finance, along with ...