BTC takes a beating while NEAR feasts: This AI rotation feels off
BTC is falling while AI is rising—same test, but some turned in a blank paper while others got full marks.
On October 13, 2026, the KOSPI plunged more than 7% at one point intraday, closing down 5.46%. Samsung (-7.39%) and SK Hynix (-10.09%) led the decline. The crypto market crashed along with it: BTC briefly fell below $82,000, and about $800 million in positions were liquidated across the market, 86% of them longs—those betting on a rise got wiped out in one fell swoop.
Yet in this environment, market maker Wintermute released a report naming AI as the leading beneficiary of the latest sector rotation. The logic is straightforward: spot BTC ETFs saw $679 million in net outflows in a single week—the largest since June—and ETH ETFs saw $542 million in outflows. The money didn’t flee into cash; it rotated within the market. Some of the capital leaving DeFi flowed into AI tokens.
NEAR’s numbers are certainly impressive. It’s up more than 130% over the past 30 days, pushing its market cap back into the top 20. There were two catalysts. First, NEAR mainnet upgrade 2.13 introduced post-quantum signature scheme ML-DSA. Shorts were squeezed into covering during the rebound, with short sellers themselves helping push the price higher. Second, Bitwise’s NRR, the first U.S. spot NEAR ETF, debuted on NYSE Arca on September 29, giving traditional investors a regulated way in.
Compare that with the past: in 2021, BTC rose first, ETH followed, and narrative-driven coins went wild—that was a broad rally fueled by excess liquidity. This time, the 10-year Treasury yield has climbed to 5.24%, and the Fed minutes struck a hawkish tone. Macro conditions are draining liquidity, yet money is becoming more selective, flowing only into assets with “a story, a catalyst, and an ETF channel.”
I’m not making a call on how long this rotation can last. Wintermute itself warned that chasing prices higher carries significant risk until Treasury yields stabilize and BTC ETFs return to net inflows. But here’s the takeaway: if your portfolio has no AI exposure at all, you can only watch this rally from the sidelines.
$NEAR #AI板块强势进击 #BinanceSquare
BTC is falling while AI is rising—same test, but some turned in a blank paper while others got full marks.
On October 13, 2026, the KOSPI plunged more than 7% at one point intraday, closing down 5.46%. Samsung (-7.39%) and SK Hynix (-10.09%) led the decline. The crypto market crashed along with it: BTC briefly fell below $82,000, and about $800 million in positions were liquidated across the market, 86% of them longs—those betting on a rise got wiped out in one fell swoop.
Yet in this environment, market maker Wintermute released a report naming AI as the leading beneficiary of the latest sector rotation. The logic is straightforward: spot BTC ETFs saw $679 million in net outflows in a single week—the largest since June—and ETH ETFs saw $542 million in outflows. The money didn’t flee into cash; it rotated within the market. Some of the capital leaving DeFi flowed into AI tokens.
NEAR’s numbers are certainly impressive. It’s up more than 130% over the past 30 days, pushing its market cap back into the top 20. There were two catalysts. First, NEAR mainnet upgrade 2.13 introduced post-quantum signature scheme ML-DSA. Shorts were squeezed into covering during the rebound, with short sellers themselves helping push the price higher. Second, Bitwise’s NRR, the first U.S. spot NEAR ETF, debuted on NYSE Arca on September 29, giving traditional investors a regulated way in.
Compare that with the past: in 2021, BTC rose first, ETH followed, and narrative-driven coins went wild—that was a broad rally fueled by excess liquidity. This time, the 10-year Treasury yield has climbed to 5.24%, and the Fed minutes struck a hawkish tone. Macro conditions are draining liquidity, yet money is becoming more selective, flowing only into assets with “a story, a catalyst, and an ETF channel.”
I’m not making a call on how long this rotation can last. Wintermute itself warned that chasing prices higher carries significant risk until Treasury yields stabilize and BTC ETFs return to net inflows. But here’s the takeaway: if your portfolio has no AI exposure at all, you can only watch this rally from the sidelines.
$NEAR #AI板块强势进击 #BinanceSquare