A former Near Protocol employee had an awkward moment on a public call when he accidentally shared his screen, revealing some NSFW images—and it just so happened to line up with a little price bump for the NEAR token. Andrew Krynin, ex-business development manager, was on a livestream with Near contributor Cameron Dennis when two suggestive pics popped up for everyone to see. Viewers got a glimpse of his laptop files, and clips of the mishap quickly made the rounds on X. LOLOLOL $NEAR dev sharing interesting things these days. pic.twitter.com/ZAbh3mCVgX — Devchart 👨🏻💻 (@devchart) February 13, 2025 Near Protocol ( NEAR ) responded with a formal apology, saying they take “full responsibility,” and removed the video shortly after. About ten hours later, Krynin chimed in with his own apology—but not to the public. He directed it to “the ONLY person” he felt he owed one to: his girlfriend. You might also like: How layer 1 blockchains are leading the 2024 bull run – and who’s winning Since the incident, NEAR token has been on a steady climb, up nearly 6% at the time of writing. While the incident appears to have been an accident, some users speculated that it might have been a low-key, clever marketing move. Genius marketing strategy from $NEAR Everyone talking about them now. Run it back please. pic.twitter.com/pJJpqcMYsg — Charlie (@btc_charlie) February 13, 2025 Meanwhile, there was a flurry of bullish NEAR price charts shared on X. One user pointed out that NEAR price is now finding strong support at the block where it initially surged. $NEAR Looks kinda amazing to me. Took lows here and has support of the block where price initially ran from now acting as strong support. Would not be suprised if it makes new cycle highs from here. One of the most used chains too pic.twitter.com/BnfY3Qvfhf — RJ (@RJtradescrypto) February 14, 2025 Another user noted that the NEAR price is gradually rising towards the resistance of falling wedge on the daily chart, predicting a 100-120% bullish rally in midterm. So, if it was indeed a marketing move to pump NEAR price, it seems to be working, according to the sentiment on X . We are all longing $NEAR right? pic.twitter.com/Rk0r3nQTZu — 0xDefinci (@0xDeFinci) February 13, 2025 You might also like: Near Protocol’s X page hacked, again