Daily News 19

Tag: Cross-chain swaps

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

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

    Key Highlights:

    • Bitcoin holds above $81,000 in Monday Asian trading, extending gains after the SEC greenlit onchain trading of tokenized U.S. equities.
    • NEAR token surges roughly 23% to above $4 as its cross-chain swap service, NEAR Intents, becomes a primary routing layer for Zcash (ZEC) volume.
    • Major consumer wallets ZODL and Vizor have integrated NEAR Intents, driving a sixfold jump in daily ZEC volume routed through the protocol in the past week.

    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.

  • THORChain Privacy Upgrade Drives RUNE 26% Higher — Can Bulls Break $0.65?

    THORChain Privacy Upgrade Drives RUNE 26% Higher — Can Bulls Break $0.65?

    THORChain ($RUNE) Surges 26% After v3.20 Upgrade Enables Privacy Coin Swaps

    $RUNE rallied more than 26% in the past 24 hours, making it the top gainer among the top 200 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization. The price spike coincided with the launch of the THORChain v3.20 upgrade and a broader recovery across the crypto market. Daily trading volume tripled to exceed $20 million, though it remains modest relative to the token’s market cap.

    THORChain v3.20 Goes Live, Unlocking XMR and ZEC Swaps

    The network confirmed that the v3.20 upgrade went live on August 26. The release introduces native cross-chain swapping for Monero (XMR) and Zcash (ZEC) against Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and major stablecoins. By bridging privacy-focused assets directly into THORChain’s liquidity pools, the upgrade expands the protocol’s addressable market and brings a new cohort of privacy-conscious users into its ecosystem.

    This development arrives three months after an exploit drained over $10 million from THORChain across BTC, ETH, and BSC networks. Since then, the protocol has rebuilt confidence, with swap volume data from DeFiLlama showing consistent dominance from Bitcoin and Ethereum. The chain currently averages roughly $7 million in daily BTC swaps and $10 million in daily ETH swaps.

    Source: DeFiLlama

    Short Liquidations Amplify the Move

    The sudden influx of buying pressure triggered a cascade of short liquidations in the perpetual futures market. According to CoinGlass data, $RUNE short positions worth roughly ten times the value of long positions were wiped out during the surge, adding fuel to the upside momentum.

    Source: CoinGlass

    Technical Outlook: Can Bulls Flip $0.65 Resistance?

    On the daily timeframe, the 200-day Exponential Moving Average (EMA) signals a shift to a long-term bullish trend. However, horizontal price structure remains bearish. $RUNE is still trading below the $0.65 zone, which marks the last lower high of the prior downtrend. Bulls tested this supply zone but faced immediate rejection, leaving it unclear whether buyers have the conviction to breach resistance decisively.

    Source: $RUNE/USDT on TradingView

    On-chain and derivative metrics offer mixed signals. Cumulative Volume Delta (CVD) data shows aggressive accumulation, with 1.78 million $RUNE bought on Binance as of press time. Meanwhile, a Sentiment reading of 80 indicates the crowd is convinced the rally is sustainable. Yet the move remains largely sentiment-driven, raising the risk of a short-lived spike if the market structure fails to confirm a trend change.

    Key Takeaways

    • $RUNE surged over 26% in 24 hours after the THORChain v3.20 upgrade, leading all top-200 crypto assets.
    • The upgrade enables direct swaps for Monero (XMR) and Zcash (ZEC) into BTC, ETH, and stablecoins, expanding THORChain’s user base.
    • Short liquidations were extreme, with shorts liquidated at roughly 10x the volume of longs.
    • Price remains below the critical $0.65 resistance; a successful flip to support would confirm a structural shift to bullish.
    • CVD and sentiment data show strong buying interest, but sustainability depends on whether the rally transitions from sentiment-driven to structure-confirmed.