Bitcoin Climbs Back Above $81,000 as SEC Opens the Door to Tokenized Stocks
Set Trending Topics as a preferred source on Google.
Bitcoin is trading above $81,000 again. The largest cryptocurrency rose to around $81,500 during the Asian session, up roughly 1.3 percent over 24 hours and about 5 percent on the week. The broader market followed: Ether, BNB, XRP and Solana all gained ground, and several smaller assets moved considerably more.
The main driver behind the recovery is a decision by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission taken last Thursday. The regulator cleared the way for onchain trading of tokenized U.S. stocks, a move that feeds directly into the blockchains where that trading is expected to happen.
What the SEC Actually Decided
The SEC issued what it calls an innovation exemption. For five years, it frees specialized trading platforms, known as tokenized securities venues, from the requirement to register as a traditional exchange. Trading runs through permissioned automated market makers and liquidity pools, within a gated environment that requires KYC checks and rules out margin trading and primary issuance.
The relief comes with a list of conditions. Each venue may list a maximum of 75 large U.S. stocks or 250 less liquid names. Trading volume is capped at 0.25 percent of daily volume for large caps and 2.5 percent for smaller ones. The tokens have to carry the same rights as the underlying shares, including dividends, voting rights and liquidation claims. Issuers get a 30-day window to object when a third party tokenizes their stock, and trading halts must sync automatically with the primary exchange. The smart contracts have to be publicly visible and auditable on a permissionless ledger.
SEC Chairman Paul Atkins called the step a significant move toward bringing U.S. capital markets into the digital age. The agency has also opened a comment period in which market participants can propose adjustments, as set out in the SEC’s announcement and analyzed in more detail by Trending Topics.
Why Blockchains Stand to Gain
The market logic is direct. If tokenized stocks trade onchain, they need networks to run the smart contracts and liquidity pools where the tokens can be swapped against stablecoins. The names mentioned most often are Ethereum, Solana, BNB Chain and Coinbase’s Base, alongside decentralized exchanges such as Uniswap, Aerodrome and Raydium. Tokenization players including Securitize, Bullish, Coinbase and Robinhood saw their shares rise in the hours after the decision.
For the crypto market, that amounts to a new demand channel from an area that has so far sat largely outside the blockchains. Part of the Bitcoin move looks technical as well. Jeff Mei, chief operating officer at exchange BTSE, attributes the weekend spike to the SEC decision and the short squeeze that followed, meaning traders were forced to cover bearish positions. He sees few market-moving events in the days ahead and expects volatility to pick up again around the Federal Reserve meeting in late October.
The Top 15 Coins at a Glance
| # | Coin | Price | 24h | 7 Days |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bitcoin (BTC) | $81,544.67 | +1.29% | +5.24% |
| 2 | Ethereum (ETH) | $2,664.86 | +3.38% | +6.11% |
| 3 | Tether (USDT) | $0.9997 | +0.01% | +0.01% |
| 4 | BNB (BNB) | $772.58 | +3.00% | +6.63% |
| 5 | XRP (XRP) | $1.42 | +3.53% | +3.83% |
| 6 | USDC (USDC) | $0.9999 | 0.00% | 0.00% |
| 7 | Solana (SOL) | $111.81 | +2.86% | +10.69% |
| 8 | TRON (TRX) | $0.3433 | +0.91% | +1.30% |
| 9 | Zcash (ZEC) | $1,516.42 | +4.21% | +33.87% |
| 10 | Hyperliquid (HYPE) | $93.95 | +3.18% | +17.84% |
| 11 | Dogecoin (DOGE) | $0.08854 | +3.76% | +5.29% |
| 12 | Monero (XMR) | $586.80 | +12.60% | +12.22% |
| 13 | Chainlink (LINK) | $12.56 | +4.67% | +10.38% |
| 14 | Cardano (ADA) | $0.2317 | +5.15% | +11.97% |
| 15 | UNUS SED LEO (LEO) | $8.92 | +0.36% | -0.56% |
Source: CoinMarketCap, snapshot
Privacy Coins and NEAR Lead the Outliers
Privacy coins stand out. Zcash is up around 34 percent on the week and trades above $1,500, while Monero added close to 13 percent in a single day. Just outside the top 15, NEAR jumped roughly 23 percent to a little above $4 and gained about 80 percent over the week.
The reason, according to CoinDesk, is the growth of NEAR Intents, a swap service built on the NEAR blockchain that lets a wallet trade one token for another across different chains while the user’s funds stay put. Consumer wallets such as ZODL and Vizor have integrated it to offer ZEC swaps, and daily ZEC volume routed through the service rose sixfold within a week. NEAR has effectively become the routing layer for one of the most heavily traded tokens on the market, and its own token has followed that traffic.
Equity Markets Add Tailwind
The macro backdrop helped as well. MSCI’s Asia Pacific index climbed close to 1 percent, led by technology stocks in South Korea and Taiwan, after U.S. officials described ongoing talks with China as very successful ahead of a meeting between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping. Futures on the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 traded higher, while oil slipped, easing some of the pressure on inflation expectations.
Whether this turns into a durable recovery remains open. The innovation exemption runs on a clock and comes with tight volume caps, and the actual market for tokenized stocks still has to be built. For now, the decision has handed the market a story that reaches beyond price speculation.
