Bitcoin Runs to $81,000 and NEAR Adds 32% as Tokenization Tokens Lead

Cryptocurrency markets advanced through the Asia and Europe sessions and extended gains into the U.S. open, with the majority of major tokens trading higher. CoinGecko data cited in reports showed 111 of the 125 largest non-stablecoin tokens rising over 24 hours. Bitcoin traded as high as $81,000 and was last reported around $80,829, up 5.8% for the day and 2.1% over seven days; Ether was near $2,580, up about 5% on the day but down 1.8% on the week.

Tokens associated with decentralized finance and tokenized securities led the advance. NEAR Protocol climbed roughly 32% in 24 hours, while Starknet, Arbitrum and Uniswap rose about 27%, 26% and 20% respectively. Among the 15 largest tokens, notable moves included Hyperliquid (+12% to $92.20), Solana (+9.6% to $110), Dogecoin (+7.7% to $0.088), XRP (+7.6% to $1.40) and Monero (+6.1% to $540).

The sector-specific strength followed an SEC action that created a temporary regulatory framework for tokenized securities. Release No. 34-106402 established a conditional exemption for what the commission calls a Tokenized Securities Venue, allowing such venues to list up to 75 Tier 1 symbols and to trade up to 0.25% of a stock's prior-month average daily volume, while requiring tokenized shares to carry the same dividend, voting and residual-claim rights as the underlying stock. SEC Chairman Paul Atkins characterized the move as a step toward modernizing capital markets and said it should be followed by permanent rulemaking.

Market-wide metrics showed total crypto market capitalization around $2.8 trillion on $110 billion of volume, with bitcoin dominance at 59%, up from 57% a day earlier. Weighted by market value, the 500 largest tokens rose about 5.3% over 24 hours and 3.7% over seven days. Trading volumes were notable for some leading gainers: NEAR turned over about $2 billion against a $4.9 billion market value, and Uniswap recorded $2.2 billion of turnover on a $5.4 billion market value. Equity markets did not mirror the crypto rally; the S&P 500 was roughly 0.1% below Thursday's close while the Nasdaq Composite was about flat.