The regulator explicitly excluded synthetic security tokens that are derivatives and don’t provide ownership of the shares. The SEC only allows tokens that represent real ownership of the underlying stock, which Atkins said “must provide holders with the same rights and privileges as the traditional securities, including rights to receive dividends and exercise voting rights.”

That may exclude derivatives and debt instruments offered in many of the offshore products, such as from Robinhood.

The time-limited innovation exemption doesn’t require the SEC to formally designate the venues. Instead, any platform that believes it can meet the SEC’s definition and comply with the conditions only needs to provide notice before opening the doors of a tokenization operation, according to the agency.

5 years, to start

Atkins acknowledged the temporary nature of the policy, which he said lets firms operate “in a permissioned environment today while the commission considers the need for additional action to facilitate onchain trading.” He said the measure “must be followed by durable rulemaking to ensure that onchain markets remain a viable pathway as our capital markets continue to evolve.”

Tokenization has become one of Wall Street’s biggest blockchain experiments, giving major weight to the SEC’s opening move. The basic idea is to take familiar assets such as stocks, bonds or investment funds and represent ownership of them on a blockchain, potentially allowing them to move more easily between investors and financial platforms.

Leverton most recently led institutional digital-asset manager ReserveOne. She previously served as CEO of bitcoin miner Hut 8, overseeing its merger with US Bitcoin Corp. and its transition from a Canadian-listed miner into a U.S.-domiciled company with bitcoin mining and high-performance computing operations.

Her appointment comes as Fortitude expands its exposure to Zcash, whose ZEC token has risen more than 2,000% over the past year. Its market capitalization is roughly $21 billion.

Fortitude mined 72,696 ZEC during the six months through June, about 28% of the network’s total production during that period. The company reported second-quarter revenue of $20.9 million.

The miner operates more than 60 megawatts of power capacity across seven sites in South Dakota, Nebraska, Texas and New York.

NEAR has surpassed $70 million in confidential total value locked, automatically triggering the first snapshot under its [email protected] incentive program and setting aside 333,333 milestone tokens for eligible users.

According to a Sept. 17 announcement from NEAR shared with crypto.news, the milestone was reached through Confidential Intents, its private execution system for cross chain transactions, with the snapshot determining eligibility for the first reward distribution.

Users who qualify for the first drop must maintain more than $100 in confidential balances and have an active swap history. The milestone tokens will remain locked until NEAR’s three day volume weighted average price reaches at least $3.33, when they can convert into NEAR.

The incentive program places a 2% cap on the amount that can be allocated to any single wallet. NEAR said the restriction is intended to limit concentration and spread the distribution across more participants.

NEAR confidential TVL triggers first token snapshot

Confidential Intents routes transactions through a private NEAR shard, which NEAR says removes transactions from public mempool exposure and protects users from front running, strategy leakage and other forms of maximal extractable value.

The system is designed to provide confidential execution without relying on the computational requirements associated with zero knowledge systems, according to NEAR. Its confidential liquidity can be used for high volume swaps across connected blockchains without publicly linking the activity to the party behind the transaction.

Live data cited by NEAR showed confidential TVL crossing the $70 million threshold required for the first phase of the [email protected] program. Independent NEAR Intents tracking data showed the figure at approximately $70.8 million on Sept. 17.

Alex Shevchenko, general manager of NEAR Intents, said the growth showed demand for confidential execution was extending beyond a specialized segment of the market.

“Confidentiality is quickly becoming a core requirement for the industry, and NEAR is becoming the rail to make it the new default,” Shevchenko said.

He said combining cross chain liquidity with protection against front running, strategy leakage and other forms of MEV gives institutions and decentralized finance users a way to transact at scale while retaining privacy.

The $70 million threshold closes the first phase of the [email protected] campaign. NEAR said Confidential Intents currently supports execution across more than 30 connected blockchains.

NEAR Intents expands cross chain infrastructure

NEAR has been building Intents as an abstraction layer for transactions that move across different blockchain networks. Instead of requiring a user or application to manually determine how a transaction should move between chains, users specify the intended outcome and solvers compete to execute it.

As crypto.news previously reported, NEAR has positioned Intents as part of its infrastructure for autonomous AI agents that may need to transact across several blockchains without separately managing assets and transaction routes on each network.

By June, cumulative fees generated by NEAR Intents had surpassed $35.4 million, while average daily fees during that month were above $125,000. The protocol has connected the system with its plan to provide a common settlement layer for cross chain activity and software agents.

Confidential Intents extends that system by placing privacy around execution. NEAR has developed the feature alongside other privacy tools for areas including onchain treasury management, payroll, multisig operations and balance management.

The network’s cross chain infrastructure has continued to gain integrations. An Aptos integration with NEAR Intents gave users access to one click transfers involving assets such as Bitcoin, Ethereum and XRP across more than 20 blockchains. Developers were given access through the 1 Click Swap API, which allows applications to integrate Intents without requiring users to manually operate bridges.

NEAR has tied the infrastructure to its work around AI agents, where software may need to execute payments or trades without manually navigating individual blockchain networks.

Confidential execution fits into NEAR’s AI strategy

Privacy has become part of NEAR’s push to build infrastructure for autonomous agents. The network argues that software handling payments, trading strategies and other financial activity may need to keep transaction details or user information from becoming publicly visible.

In July, NEAR introduced a staking based AI payment system that lets users lock NEAR to receive monthly compute credits for its AI platform. The tokens are not spent and can be recovered when users unstake them.

At launch, the mechanism covered 43 AI models available through NEAR AI, including models from OpenAI, Anthropic and Google. NEAR said users could access confidential AI inference and hosted autonomous agents without providing a credit card or maintaining a conventional cloud billing account.

The protocol has separately introduced automatic anonymization for personally identifiable information contained in prompts sent to closed AI models. NEAR said the system removes sensitive information before prompts reach external inference infrastructure.

A network upgrade released in June introduced dynamic resharding, allowing blockchain capacity to adjust as transaction demand changes. The same release introduced post quantum secure signatures, giving u

Zcash spiked sharply in the past day, with the privacy-focused cryptocurrency rising by roughly 20% over 24 hours after Paradigm co-founder Matt Huang disclosed that the firm made an unspecified purchase of ZEC. The move follows a broader month-long rally in which Zcash has vastly outpaced Bitcoin, according to CoinGecko price data.

ZEC was trading around $1,338 at last look on Thursday, as the token built on gains that would bring its one-month increase to about 160%, compared with Bitcoin’s 18.2% over the same period, per CoinGecko.

Key takeaways

• Zcash’s surge followed Matt Huang’s disclosure that Paradigm is both a ZODL investor and a ZEC token holder.
• ZEC is up about 160% over 30 days, versus Bitcoin’s 18.2%, based on CoinGecko’s data.
• Zcash’s architecture uses zero-knowledge proofs to support shielded transactions that hide addresses and transaction amounts.
• Privacy coins have generally been outperforming the broader crypto market, with Glassnode data pointing to a large relative lift for the sector.

Paradigm ties spotlight Zcash’s on-chain privacy narrative

The catalyst for Zcash’s latest leg higher was a post by Matt Huang on Wednesday in which he revealed that Paradigm is an investor in the Zcash Open Development Lab (ZODL) and that the firm holds ZEC. The update reframed ZEC’s recent performance through the lens of long-term ecosystem support rather than short-term trading momentum.

Zcash is designed to enable shielded transactions—transfers where the sender and recipient addresses and the transaction amounts are concealed—using zero-knowledge proofs. Those privacy mechanics have been a consistent part of Zcash’s market identity, and the renewed attention around ZEC comes as traders look for assets that can stand apart from broader market direction.

In the same context, Huang characterized Zcash as a “private complement to Bitcoin” and emphasized the importance of sustained funding for development.

Funding the protocol: ZODL and Zcash’s developer model

Zcash’s institutional momentum is not entirely new. Paradigm’s involvement in the ecosystem was already public earlier this year, when ZODL announced a seed round of more than $25 million that included Paradigm, a16z crypto, Coinbase Ventures, and Winklevoss Capital.

Huang also pointed to Zcash’s inflation-funded developer fund, arguing that ongoing support matters as new threats emerge alongside advances in computing. He tied that view to the direction of cyber capabilities increasingly shaped by AI as well as the long-term implications of quantum computing.

Beyond funding, he highlighted governance questions. Huang said he supports combining Zcash coin voting with other forms of governance to reduce unpredictability for the network when ZEC is viewed as a monetary asset.

Macro backdrop: risk assets buoyed as rates rise ends a long pause

ZEC’s climb unfolded alongside strength in the broader crypto market. The timing also coincided with a Federal Reserve move that raised interest rates by 25 basis points to 3.75%-4%—the first increase since 2023—according to the Fed’s press release.

While tighter policy typically pressures speculative assets, crypto markets have often remained sensitive to how investors interpret the path of future rates rather than the immediate change. In this case, Zcash’s rally suggests that token-specific catalysts—especially those tied to institutional involvement and the privacy value proposition—can dominate even when macro conditions are mixed.

Privacy sector momentum: Zcash stands out within a wider trend

Zcash’s outperformance sits within a broader resurgence for privacy-related assets. Glassnode data shared on X indicated the privacy coin sector was 213% above its level at Bitcoin’s October 2025 peak. A separate “basket excluding ZEC” was up about 85% over the past year, per the same Glassnode post.

That comparison matters for traders trying to separate “industry beta” from asset-specific demand. If the broader privacy category is rising, ZEC benefits from sector tailwinds—yet its magnitude over the last month appears larger than the average move of peers, reinforcing the idea that Huang’s disclosure and Paradigm’s positioning added incremental attention and buying interest.

Zcash’s technical positioning also remains central to the story. Shielded transactions using zero-knowledge proofs are designed to make it difficult to trace addresses and amounts in normal transaction history, a key reason privacy assets repeatedly attract both supporters and regulatory scrutiny across markets.

Earlier coverage from Cointelegraph referenced Zcash’s Ironwood work and the protocol changes aimed at strengthening privacy and addressing proof-related concerns (including claims about “undetectable counterfeiting bugs”). While that background doesn’t directly explain Thursday’s jump, it provides context for why Zcash tends to attract investors who follow privacy engineering rather than purely speculative narratives.

Looking ahead, investors will likely focus on whether Huang’s disclosure leads to sustained inflows rather than a short-lived reaction, and whether ZEC’s momentum holds against the broader privacy basket. With the Fed setting a new tone after a long stretch of unchanged rates, traders will also be watching for how macro expectations interact with privacy-sector demand—especially if more institutional disclosures or ecosystem funding signals emerge from Zcash’s development partners.

Bitcoin price stabilized above $76,000 after buyers defended the $75,000 area, while improving 4-hour momentum and nearby liquidity at $77,000 pointed to a possible short-term rebound.

Bitcoin price action today

According to data from crypto.news, Bitcoin (BTC) price was trading near $76,362 at the time of writing, up about 0.2% on the day after moving between $76,055 and $76,774. The latest session followed a decline that briefly pushed the asset below $75,000 before buyers stepped in.

The rebound came after the Federal Reserve delivered its first interest-rate increase in three years. The central bank raised its benchmark range by 25 basis points to 3.75%–4.00%, while projections showed 16 of 18 officials expected at least one more increase before the end of 2026.

The rate decision had largely been priced into markets, helping Bitcoin avoid another sharp decline during Fed Chair Kevin Warsh’s press conference. Bitcoin instead protected the $75,000 area and began consolidating between roughly $75,000 and $77,000.

Earlier selling followed the U.S. Senate’s failure to advance the CLARITY Act. The procedural vote ended 49–50, leaving the bill 11 votes short of the 60 required to begin debate. The proposal sought to divide digital asset oversight between the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

Fed decision leaves Bitcoin below daily resistance

The daily chart shows that Bitcoin remains in a weaker position despite holding above $75,000. The price trades below the Bollinger Band midpoint at $78,028, which now acts as the first major technical barrier.

Bitcoin is also close to the lower Bollinger Band at $75,163. The recent test of this area attracted buyers, but another daily close below it could expose the market to a deeper correction. The upper band stands near $80,894, placing it close to the wider resistance area that capped rebounds earlier in September.

Daily relative strength index readings provide a mixed signal. The RSI stands at 50.77, close to the neutral 50 level, while its moving average remains higher at 57.62. Momentum has cooled from overbought conditions reached after Bitcoin’s late-August rally, but the indicator has not yet fallen into oversold territory.

The setup suggests that Bitcoin is consolidating rather than confirming a sustained recovery. A move above the Bollinger midpoint would improve the short-term structure, while a break under $75,000 would give sellers control again.

4-hour momentum points to a possible rebound

Bitcoin’s 4-hour chart shows early signs that selling pressure is easing. The MACD histogram has moved slightly positive at 23.88, while the MACD line stands at minus 353.28 and the signal line at minus 377.16.

The crossover shows that short-term momentum is beginning to improve, although both lines remain below zero. Bitcoin would need continued buying to turn the signal into a broader bullish reversal.

The 4-hour Supertrend remains bearish at $78,596.72. Price also sits just below a nearby technical level around $76,648, making the $76,650–$77,000 zone the first barrier for buyers.

A close above that range could allow Bitcoin to test $77,300, followed by the Supertrend near $78,600. Failure to clear $77,000 would keep the price vulnerable to another test of $75,000.

Liquidation levels place $77K in focus

The three-day CoinGlass liquidation heatmap shows a dense band of leveraged positions near $76,800–$77,000. Another larger concentration sits between approximately $77,500 and $78,000.

Liquidity becomes heavier around $80,000, with additional clusters extending toward $82,000. Traders often monitor such areas because forced position closures can accelerate a move once price enters a dense liquidation zone.

Crypto trader Daan Crypto Trades said Bitcoin had already removed most of the liquidity below the market when it swept the August lows. He identified $80,000 and $82,000 as the largest remaining clusters within the wider range.

“The big clusters that are left in this range sit at $80K & $82K,” he said.

Those targets remain distant while Bitcoin trades around $76,000. A recovery through $77,000 and $78,600 would be needed before the upper liquidity zones become immediate targets. On the downside, the heatmap shows another strong band close to $74,700–$75,000, making that region a possible target if the current rebound fails.

Analysts watch $77.3K as the next trigger

Crypto analyst Lennaert Snyder said Bitcoin’s ability to defend $75,000 during the Fed decision supported a possible long setup. He added that recent declines had attracted short positions, creating conditions for a squeeze if the market moves higher.

“I’m looking to scalp-long towards the 77.3K POC first, reclaiming that is the next bullish trigger that opens the door to my next targets up to the extremes at 78.5K,” Snyder said.

Snyder identified $74,500 as an alternative support area if Bitcoin makes another downward sweep. A loss of that region would weaken the rebound case and bring the short-term holder cost basis near $71,300 into focus.

The immediate structure therefore depends on whether buyers can reclaim $77,300. A move above that level would open a path toward $78,000–$78,600, while a 4-hour close above the Supertrend could support a broader recovery toward $80,000.

A rejection below $77,000 would keep $75,000 exposed. Losing that psychological level could trigger another liquidity sweep toward $74,500, with $71,300 becoming the larger downside level if selling accelerates.

On September 12, Celsius Network debtors sued crypto exchange BitMEX, which is set to close on September 23. Celsius’ debtors suddenly want over $100 million before BitMEX shuts its doors.

Specifically, the debtors allege wrongful liquidation and seizure by BitMEX of Celsius’ BTC around the March 12, 2020 COVID market crash.

One day after that liquidation, Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky promised that Celsius wasn’t trading at all.

“Fortunately, Celsius is not a trader,” Mashinsky declared on March 13.

Commenting on the COVID crash that had occurred one day prior, he added, “We don’t trade. We don’t buy and sell coins. We don’t decide, oh, BTC’s going up or down.”

He also gushed about Celsius’ supposedly wonderful performance. “We started charging higher and higher rates, earning more money for the community,” Mashinsky claimed, in reference to Celsius’ non-trading, lending division.

“So, we did exceptionally well last night. Again, credit goes to the team for putting together an amazing performance.”