Ethereum continues to hold a significant lead in the cryptocurrency market, but NEAR Protocol is positioning itself as a viable alternative. Despite Ethereum's dominance, some teams are still working to compete with it or offer alternative options. NEAR Protocol is one such option that is gaining attention from investors and analysts alike.

According to Jamie Coutts, a crypto analyst from the Real Vision team, NEAR Protocol shows a bullish outlook in fundamental indicators. Coutts, who previously worked at Bloomberg, stated that NEAR could potentially rise over 47% from its current value. The analyst pointed to an inverse head and shoulders formation (I-HNS) on the chart, which is a bullish technical formation indicating the presence of investors willing to buy the cryptocurrency before the price falls back to previous low levels.

In addition to its technical indicators, NEAR Protocol is also showing a significant increase in daily active users (DAU) compared to other smart contract platforms. This growth rate is much higher than the total growth rate of other layer-1 and layer-2 projects, indicating a 33-fold growth against 0.6 times for the rest of the L1/L2 ecosystem.

NEAR Protocol is currently trading at $7.12, following a 2.51% decrease over the last 24 hours. Its market cap has fallen to $7.6 billion, while the 24-hour trading volume has also decreased by 35% to $312 million. Despite this decrease, analysts believe that NEAR Protocol has the potential to move in a bullish trend against Bitcoin (BTC) and Solana (SOL).

Overall, while Ethereum remains the dominant player in the cryptocurrency market, NEAR Protocol is positioning itself as a potential alternative with its bullish technical indicators and significant growth in daily active users. As the market continues to evolve, it will be important to keep an eye on NEAR Protocol and its potential impact on the cryptocurrency landscape.