Bitcoin Surges Past $81,000 as NEAR Jumps 23% on Zcash Swap Traffic

Bitcoin Consolidates Above $81K as SEC Tokenized Stock Ruling Lifts Sentiment

Bitcoin traded just above $81,000 during Monday morning hours in Asia, marking a gain of less than 1% over the preceding 24 hours according to CoinDesk data. The cryptocurrency has been adding to its recovery since Thursday, when the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission cleared a regulatory path for the onchain trading of tokenized U.S. stocks. The move is widely seen as a landmark step toward bridging traditional equity markets with blockchain-based settlement, providing a fresh catalyst for digital-asset risk appetite.

NEAR Token Leads Major-Cap Gains on Cross-Chain Routing Demand

The standout performer among major tokens was NEAR, which climbed approximately 23% to trade just above $4. The rally traces directly to NEAR Intents, a swap service built on the NEAR blockchain that enables a wallet to exchange one token for another across different chains without requiring the user to move funds between networks first. The abstraction of cross-chain complexity has turned NEAR into a de facto routing layer for one of the most heavily traded assets in the market.

Wallet Integrations Drive Sixfold Volume Spike for ZEC

Major consumer wallets, including ZODL and Vizor, have plugged NEAR Intents into their interfaces to offer Zcash (ZEC) swaps. Since those integrations went live, daily ZEC volume routed through the service has jumped sixfold in a single week. The surge in order flow has created a positive feedback loop for the NEAR token itself, which has followed the traffic as the underlying settlement and gas asset for the routing activity.

Broader Market Moves Remain Measured

Outside of NEAR’s outsized move, the rest of the major-cap complex posted modest advances. ZEC itself gained 3% to just above $1,500, while BNB rose 2% to nearly $777. Ether and HYPE each added roughly 2%. The remaining large-cap cohort — XRP, DOGE, SOL, and TRX — all rose 1% or less, indicating a market digesting the SEC news selectively rather than chasing a broad risk-on impulse.

Why This Matters

The SEC’s decision to allow onchain trading of tokenized U.S. equities represents a structural shift: it legitimizes the use of public blockchains as settlement rails for regulated securities. For protocols like NEAR that have invested in chain-abstraction infrastructure, the ruling arrives as tailwinds build for cross-chain liquidity aggregation. The sixfold volume increase on NEAR Intents demonstrates real user demand for seamless interoperability — a prerequisite if tokenized stocks are to trade natively onchain at scale. Watch for further wallet integrations and whether other Layer 1s deploy similar intent-based routing to capture order flow.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is NEAR Intents and why is it driving NEAR’s price higher?

NEAR Intents is a cross-chain swap service on the NEAR blockchain that lets users trade tokens across different networks without manually bridging funds. Wallets ZODL and Vizor have integrated it for ZEC swaps, causing a sixfold volume spike that increases demand for NEAR as the routing layer’s native gas and settlement token.

How did the SEC’s tokenized stock decision affect Bitcoin?

Bitcoin has extended gains since Thursday’s SEC ruling, trading above $81,000 on Monday. The decision is viewed as a bullish regulatory signal for the broader digital-asset ecosystem, though Bitcoin’s own move has been modest — up less than 1% in 24 hours — suggesting the market is still calibrating the long-term implications.

Which other major tokens moved on Monday?

ZEC gained 3% to above $1,500; BNB rose 2% to near $777; Ether and HYPE each added about 2%; while XRP, DOGE, SOL, and TRX all rose 1% or less.