Bitcoin Hits $81,000 as NEAR Surges 32% on Tokenization Momentum

Bitcoin rallied 5.8% to $80,829, briefly touching $81,000, its strongest price since early September. The surge was led by tokenization‑related assets, with NEAR Protocol posting a 32% gain, Starknet up 27%, and Arbitrum climbing 26%.

Market Overview

Crypto markets extended gains from the Asia session into the U.S. open. Of the 125 largest non‑stablecoin tokens, 111 posted higher prices. Bitcoin’s market dominance rose to 59% as the total crypto market value reached $2.8 trillion.

Key Token Performers

• NEAR Protocol: +32%
• Starknet: +27%
• Arbitrum: +26%
• Uniswap (UNI): +20%
• Hyperliquid: +12%
• Solana: +9.6%
• Dogecoin: +7.7%
• XRP: +7.6%
• Monero: +6.1%
• BNB: +4.7%

SEC Tokenized Securities Exemption

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission issued a five‑year conditional exemption allowing tokenized National Market System (NMS) stocks to trade through liquidity pools. The exemption permits venues to list up to 75 Tier 1 symbols and trade up to 0.25% of each stock’s prior‑month average daily volume, with tokenized shares required to retain dividend, voting, and residual‑asset rights.

Impact on DeFi Platforms

Uniswap reported tokenized equity volume of roughly $800 million per day and highlighted that tokenized securities on its platform do not confer direct ownership of the underlying assets. Permissioned pools launched in July enable tokenized funds to access automated market‑maker liquidity.

Broader Market Context

Equities showed little correlation, with the S&P 500 down 0.1% and the Nasdaq up 0.1%. The 10‑year Treasury yield rose to 4.99%. Polymarket increased the probability of a second consecutive Fed quarter‑point hike to 56.5%.

ETF Flows and Sentiment

U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded a net inflow of $159.5 million, led by BlackRock’s IBIT. The Crypto Fear & Greed Index rose to 56, indicating a shift toward greed.