The NEAR token (CRYPTO: $NEAR) is up 30% on May 22 following an endorsement from cryptocurrency influencer Arthur Hayes.

NEAR was trading at $2.23 U.S. in afternoon trading and was up about 30% on the day after

Arthur Hayes named NEAR one of the "holy trinity" of altcoins.

More From Cryptoprowl:

• Ripple, The Company Behind XRP, Is Valued At $50 Billion

• Eightco Secures $125 Million Investment From Bitmine And ARK Invest, Shares Surge

• Blockchain Projects Decline 75% As Developers Shift To A.I.

• Stanley Druckenmiller Says Stablecoins Could Reshape Global Finance

• New York Stock Exchange Invests $600 Million In Polymarket

Arthur Hayes is an American entrepreneur and former CEO of crypto derivatives exchange BitMEX. He remains a prominent voice within the cryptocurrency industry.

Analysts and crypto commentators say Hayes endorsement is one of several factors driving NEAR's price higher.

On social media, Vadim Zacodil, a former contributor to the NEAR protocol, said the altcoin is also rising because Bitwise recently added NEAR to its crypto exchange-traded product (ETP).

Zacodil also points to growing institutional demand and NEAR co-founder Illia Polosukhin's artificial intelligence (A.I.) background as helping to spotlight the token and push its price up.

Next month, NEAR is slated to roll out a major upgrade designed to expand its network capacity and improve scalability through resharding technology.

NEAR has gained 128% this year as its momentum continues.