Bitcoin tops $81,000 after SEC clears on‑chain tokenized‑stock trading, while NEAR jumps ~23% on a surge in ZEC swap volume.
Bitcoin traded just above $81,000, up less than 1% in 24 hours, after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission cleared a path for on‑chain trading of tokenized U.S. stocks, which CoinDesk data link to a short‑squeeze.
NEAR’s token rose roughly 23% to just above $4, driven by heavy ZEC trading through NEAR Intents, a cross‑chain swap service that lets wallets trade tokens across chains without moving funds. Major consumer wallets such as ZODL and Vizor have integrated the service, and daily ZEC volume routed through it jumped sixfold in a single week.
Asian equities and U.S. equity futures rose amid positive U.S.–China trade‑talk signals, while Brent crude fell 2% to just above $101 a barrel. Jeff Mei, chief operating officer of exchange BTSE, attributed the weekend Bitcoin spike to the SEC decision and the ensuing short squeeze, noting limited calendar events aside from upcoming Federal Reserve remarks.
The article does not provide further analysis of longer‑term market implications or additional factors influencing the price moves.