Zcash and NEAR Protocol have emerged as two of crypto’s strongest alternative trades in 2026, a move Bankless co-founder David Hoffman believes is being driven by investors moving some capital away from Bitcoin and Ethereum toward assets with stronger return narratives.

Hoffman said in a Sept. 23 post that ZEC has become what he calls the latest winner of the “Bitcoin Bid,” while NEAR has captured a similar position among smart contract platforms.

His argument centers on the size of Bitcoin’s existing pool of wealth. Bitcoin carries a market capitalization of roughly $1.7 trillion, while Zcash remains a fraction of that size even after its rally. Hoffman said only a small portion of Bitcoin holders would need to allocate some of their capital to ZEC for the smaller asset to experience substantial buying pressure.

Zcash’s market capitalization has climbed to roughly $26 billion after starting from a much smaller base, according to figures cited by Hoffman. The move has coincided with growing interest in privacy, quantum computing risks and regulated access to the asset.

The privacy coin market has grown nearly fivefold over the past year, according to a Sept. 22 report from 21Shares cited by crypto.news. The sector expanded from $6.2 billion to roughly $30 billion, while CoinGecko valued the category near $36.9 billion at the time.

Hoffman sees ZEC drawing from Bitcoin’s pool of capital

Hoffman compared the current ZEC trade with Ethereum’s run in 2021, when ETH moved from a market capitalization near $12 billion at its cycle bottom to roughly $554 billion at its peak.

His thesis does not suggest that Bitcoin holders are abandoning BTC altogether. Instead, Hoffman believes enough holders may be allocating a small part of their portfolios to ZEC as a hedge or complementary position.

Zcash gives that group several narratives to work with. The network shares Bitcoin’s fixed maximum supply of 21 million coins while offering optional transaction privacy through shielded addresses. Concerns over the long term effect of quantum computing on existing cryptographic systems have provided another part of the investment case cited by ZEC supporters.

Institutional access has changed as well. Grayscale converted its Zcash Trust into the ZCSH spot ETF on NYSE Arca on Aug. 25, launching with roughly $304 million in assets under management. ZEC crossed $1,000 in early September as assets in the fund moved above $400 million.

Hoffman argued that ZEC’s dollar gains alone do not explain the trade. He instead pointed to the difference between the size of Bitcoin and Zcash, saying the pool of BTC wealth potentially available for rotation remains far larger than ZEC’s market value.

“There’s $1.7T of BTC out there, and it only takes a very small amount of Bitcoiners to agree that ZEC is valid,” Hoffman wrote.

He said investors could reach that conclusion because of privacy, concerns around quantum computing or simply a desire to hedge their Bitcoin exposure.

The argument remains Hoffman’s interpretation of the source of demand rather than direct evidence tracing ZEC purchases to Bitcoin holders. He acknowledged that point himself, saying he believed few capital allocators would skip BTC, ETH and the rest of the crypto market to buy ZEC solely on its own merits.

NEAR has become the smart contract alternative, Hoffman says

A similar capital rotation may be playing out around NEAR Protocol, according to Hoffman, although he sees the source of that demand as more dispersed.

“I think NEAR has won the ‘smart contract bid’ trophy of 2026,” he wrote.

NEAR was trading around $4.28 on Sept. 24 after gaining more than 60% over the previous seven days, according to CoinGecko. Its rally has come alongside several developments across the network and its trading markets.

On Sept. 23, NEAR spot trading went live on Hyperliquid through a NEAR/USDC market. NEAR perpetual open interest on Hyperliquid stood near $344 million at the time, while positive funding rates showed long positions were paying shorts.

Network development has provided another part of NEAR’s 2026 narrative. The protocol has spent much of the year building around artificial intelligence, chain abstraction and autonomous agents.

In July, NEAR introduced staking based AI payments, allowing users to lock NEAR and receive monthly compute credits for AI services. The system covered 43 AI models at launch and allowed users to access confidential inference and autonomous agents without paying through a credit card.

Hoffman said the capital supporting NEAR is probably coming from a more varied group than the investors he believes are moving from BTC into ZEC.

Ethereum has historically faced more competition among smart contract networks than Bitcoin has faced within the store of value category, he argued. Solana has already challenged Ethereum for users, activity and investor attention, leaving the smart contract market less concentrated around a single asset.

For Hoffman, the difference means NEAR does not need to pull capital from one clearly defined group. Traders looking beyond ETH, SOL and other established smart contract assets could contribute to the same effect.

Bitcoin and Ethereum face what Hoffman calls a blue chip problem

Hoffman framed the moves in ZEC and NEAR as part of a larger issue for the crypto market’s biggest assets.

Investors seeking large multiples may be less willing to allocate new capital to assets that already carry hundreds of billions or more than $1 trillion in market value, he argued. Smaller networks can offer more room for price appreciation if they attract a meaningful portion of existing crypto wealth.

Hoffman called the situation the “Blue Chip Curse.”

Bitcoin still needs to establish itself more firmly as an alternative to gold, in his view, while Ethereum faces the question of what could produce another major revaluation after years of growth.

The comparison comes as the total cryptocurrency market remains much smaller than the traditional financial system. CoinGecko data placed the global crypto market capitalization near $2.96 trillion on Sept. 24, with Bitcoin accounting for roughly 57% of the total.

Hoffman said crypto could continue producing new winners even if BTC and ETH do not deliver the multiples investors saw during earlier cycles. He pointed to Hyperliquid, Venice, Lighter, Ethena and Morpho as examples of projects bringing new products and infrastructure into the industry.

His concern is where the economic value from that activity ultimately ends up.

Hoffman argued that Robinhood, Coinbase, Apollo and traditional brokerage businesses could be positioned to capture part of the value created by the latest generation of crypto products, while the extent to which BTC and ETH benefit remains uncertain.

For the industry’s overall value to move materially higher, Hoffman said total crypto market capitalization would eventually need to grow far beyond its current level. He raised $10 trillion as a level he hopes the market can reach during the current cycle, while contrasting it with a possible $30 trillion market needed for a much larger expansion of the sector.

Binance has scheduled Hyperliquid (HYPE) spot trading for Sept. 24 at 11:00 UTC, with three pairs opening as the token carries a market capitalization near $21 billion.

Binance, in its Sept. 24 listing notice, announced HYPE/USDT, HYPE/USDC and HYPE/TRY as the initial spot markets. The exchange said deposits would become available one hour after its announcement, while withdrawals are expected to open at 11:00 UTC on Sept. 25. Binance set the listing fee at zero BNB.

Binance HYPE listing opens three spot pairs

Spot Algo Orders are scheduled to become available when HYPE trading starts at 11:00 UTC. Binance said Trading Bots and Spot Copy Trading would follow within 24 hours of the spot listing. Users running copy-trading portfolios can add the new pairs through Binance’s Personal Pair Preference settings.

Access to HYPE/TRY carries a separate restriction. Binance said the Turkish lira pair will only be available to customers with verified Binance TR accounts. TRY represents fiat currency in the listing and is not another digital asset.

Trading eligibility depends on location and account verification. Residents of the United States and its territories cannot trade the three new pairs through Binance, according to the exchange. The restricted list currently includes Canada, the Netherlands, Iran, North Korea, Syria and several other jurisdictions. Binance said the list may change in response to legal or regulatory requirements.

The listing gives HYPE another centralized spot venue while Hyperliquid remains focused heavily on on-chain trading. In related coverage, crypto.news reported that Coinbase added more than 290 Hyperliquid perpetual markets to its Base App in August, offering leverage of up to 50x to eligible users. U.S., U.K. and Canadian users were excluded from that product at launch.

HYPE Seed Tag adds a recurring risk quiz

Binance has attached its Seed Tag to HYPE, a designation the exchange uses for newer projects that it says may carry higher volatility and risk than other listed assets. Binance said HYPE “poses a higher than normal risk” and “will likely be subject to high price volatility.”

Users seeking access to Seed Tag tokens must complete Binance’s risk quiz every 90 days and accept its terms of use. The requirement applies through Binance Spot and Margin where supported, while a risk-warning banner appears on tagged token pages.

Binance introduced the Seed Tag in 2023 to replace its former Innovation Zone designation. Its guidance says tagged projects undergo periodic reviews covering trading volume, liquidity, development activity, network security, team commitment and responses to due-diligence requests.

The designation does not change the announced HYPE launch schedule. Binance said withdrawals are planned for Sept. 25 at 11:00 UTC but described that time as an estimate. The exchange directs users to its withdrawal page for the actual opening status.

HYPE enters Binance listing day near a $21 billion value

CoinGecko’s Sept. 24 data shows HYPE with a market capitalization of $20.91 billion and trading volume of roughly $1.13 billion. The token closed Sept. 23 at $93.98 after closing at $97.19 one day earlier. CoinGecko had not posted a Sept. 24 closing price at the time of its current daily snapshot.

The recent price history shows HYPE climbing rapidly during the preceding week. CoinGecko recorded a $76.92 close on Sept. 15, followed by $85.06 on Sept. 17 and $92.54 on Sept. 18. The token closed Sept. 20 at $93.64 before reaching $94.05 on Sept. 21.

An immediate post-announcement price move has been reported by third-party market coverage. BeInCrypto, citing TradingView’s HYPE/USD market on Coinbase, reported an increase of roughly 1.5% within ten minutes of Binance publishing the listing notice, with the move briefly approaching 1.9%. The figures describe a short intraday reaction and do not establish that Binance’s announcement caused subsequent HYPE price movements.

Recent activity has taken place alongside rising protocol revenue. As crypto.news reported in its coverage of Hyperliquid’s $429 million 2026 revenue lead, CoinGecko calculated $429.04 million in revenue from Jan. 1 through Sept. 15. The figure represented 12.62% of the $3.40 billion comparison pool used in CoinGecko’s adjusted ranking.

Hyperliquid remains first in normalized perp DEX volume

Current DeFiLlama data ranks Hyperliquid first among tracked perpetual DEXs by 24-hour normalized trading volume. Hyperliquid recorded approximately $7.42 billion, compared with $2.08 billion for Aster and $1.93 billion for Lighter. Its reported 30-day perpetual volume stood near $220 billion in the same dataset.

Open interest on Hyperliquid stood at approximately $9.06 billion, according to DeFiLlama. The platform accounted for more than half of the $15.30 billion in open interest shown across the tracked perpetual DEX market at the time of the snapshot. The figures change continuously with trading activity.

Hyperliquid’s own documentation states that perpetual and spot trading fees use volume-based tiers, while HYPE staking can reduce trading fees. Accounts linked to more than 500,000 staked HYPE qualify for the highest published 40% fee discount, while qualifying high-volume market makers can receive rebates reaching 0.003%.

Trading fees routed to Hyperliquid’s Assistance Fund are automatically converted into HYPE, according to the protocol’s documentation, with acquired tokens burned from supply. Crypto.news recently reported on Hyperliquid adding trailing stops to its perpetual markets, allowing trigger prices to follow favorable market moves before executing a market order after a specified retracement.

StarkWare says optimization efforts connected to its Quantum-Safe Bitcoin (QSB) work have driven down the estimated computational cost of constructing a quantum-resistant Bitcoin transaction to under $67—down from about $320 for the first QSB transaction demonstrated on mainnet in August. The latest figure, published in a Sept. 23 update and reflected on the Yukon QSB dashboard, suggests the benchmark cost has continued to edge lower to roughly $66.

While the QSB approach is designed to improve resilience against future quantum threats without requiring changes to Bitcoin’s consensus rules, StarkWare cautions that the new numbers are based on benchmark tests. The development nonetheless matters for anyone evaluating practical “emergency” defenses for large holders who may be most exposed if public keys are later compromised by quantum-capable machines.

Key takeaways

• StarkWare reports QSB transaction construction costs fell to about $66–$67 after a week of optimization.
• The cost decline follows the Quantum-Safe Bitcoin Optimization Challenge, which generated improvements across the benchmarked transaction-building steps.
• The earliest mainnet QSB demonstration required ~3,100 GPU-hours and cost around $320 in compute, excluding Bitcoin network fees.
• QSB is positioned as an “emergency” measure; StarkWare says broader, long-term protection likely still requires a consensus-layer soft fork.
• StarkWare emphasizes the latest optimizations are verified via benchmarks, not renewed full mainnet demonstrations.

From a $320 demo to a sub-$67 benchmark

StarkWare’s update ties the cost reduction to participant work in the Quantum-Safe Bitcoin Optimization Challenge, a collaborative effort involving Yukon Research and Eigen Labs. The initiative focused on reducing the GPU computation needed to prepare a QSB transaction.

In August, StarkWare said a QSB transaction was mined and confirmed on Bitcoin’s mainnet. According to that earlier account, the engineering effort behind the demonstration involved Tomer Giladi and submission via MARA’s Slipstream service. Preparing the transaction required approximately 3,100 GPU-hours across roughly 100 GPUs, translating to about $320 in compute cost, excluding network fees.

The new update describes how the challenge achieved a sharper efficiency gap. StarkWare reports that the competition produced 62 accepted improvements across two computational tasks required to build a QSB transaction. Based on benchmark testing, these changes reduced the estimated computing cost by about 79%—bringing it down to the current $66–$67 range shown on the Yukon dashboard.

Why QSB is framed as an “emergency” defense

The broader motivation for QSB is the risk that a sufficiently powerful quantum computer could break the elliptic-curve digital signatures Bitcoin relies on. If that future capability arrives, attackers could potentially steal coins whose public keys are exposed, making timing and practicality important for holders who need protection under constrained conditions.

StarkWare’s QSB design, first published by researcher Avihu Levy in April, aims to add hash-based protection against quantum attacks without changing Bitcoin’s consensus rules. That non-consensus approach is part of what makes QSB attractive as an add-on defense—particularly if consensus changes remain difficult or slow.

However, Levy previously characterized QSB as a “last resort measure,” citing cost, complexity, and limited applicability. StarkWare’s latest messaging continues that framing: even with a nearly 80% reduction, a few hundred dollars per transaction still signals that QSB remains closer to an emergency tool than a fully routine mechanism for all holders.

The challenge’s impact—and what remains unproven

The Optimization Challenge opened on Sept. 16, inviting developers, researchers, and AI agents to refine the software needed to generate QSB transactions more efficiently. StarkWare says the resulting improvements were accepted across two computational tasks that together determine the overall benchmark cost.

The key point for investors and builders is the distinction between benchmark performance and real-world transaction preparation at full scale. StarkWare’s update presents the new $66–$67 number as an estimated computational cost derived from performance tests. That means the update demonstrates algorithmic and engineering efficiency, but it does not, by itself, confirm that the most recent optimizations have been used to create and confirm additional QSB mainnet transactions.

Still, the direction of travel is meaningful: getting from roughly $320 to under $67 transforms the practicality of the technique for larger holders who may prioritize the ability to execute a protective transaction when conditions warrant it. In its Sept. 23 update, StarkWare argued that a construction costing a few hundred dollars is “a demo,” while costs closer to $67 are more plausible for emergency use by holders with significant balances—without requiring network rule changes.

Soft forks remain the long-term focus

QSB exists within a broader debate on how Bitcoin should prepare for quantum threats. StarkWare says it continues to favor a soft fork—a change to Bitcoin’s consensus rules—as a better “long-term answer” for wider, more reliable quantum protection across the ecosystem.

This matters because emergency add-ons, while potentially useful, are inherently narrower in scope: they do not automatically provide the systemic coverage that consensus-level changes can offer. The latest cost reductions therefore read less like a final end-state and more like progress toward making an interim strategy less prohibitive while the community works through governance, implementation, and security trade-offs for longer-range solutions.

For now, readers should watch the Yukon QSB dashboard for whether the benchmark estimates keep moving and whether the community follows up with additional mainnet demonstrations using the newly optimized construction pathways. The biggest open question remains whether benchmark gains translate into repeated, end-to-end operational readiness when real constraints—beyond compute estimates—come into play.

Citigroup has pushed its forecast for the Federal Reserve’s next interest rate cut to June 2027 after stronger US jobs data reduced concerns over the labor market, leaving Bitcoin and the crypto market facing the prospect of higher borrowing costs for longer.

Reuters reported that Citi had previously expected the Fed to cut rates in October and December 2026 and again in January 2027. The bank has replaced those calls with three reductions in June, September and December 2027 after August payrolls came in well above forecasts.

US employers added 162,000 jobs in August, compared with economists’ expectations of 53,000, while the unemployment rate remained at 4.1%. The monthly payroll gain was the strongest since March, and the labor force participation rate rose by 0.2 percentage point.

Earlier employment figures were revised higher as well. July payrolls were changed to a gain of 21,000 from a previously reported loss of 23,000, while the June figure was raised by 11,000.

Citi economists Andrew Hollenhorst and Veronica Clark said the figures suggested Fed officials would see employment conditions as broadly stable and focus more closely on inflation.

“The unemployment rate was unchanged and labor force participation rebounded noticeably,” they wrote.

Strong jobs data changed Fed expectations and hit Bitcoin

The jobs report quickly reached the crypto market as traders raised their expectations for tighter monetary policy.

Bitcoin fell below $80,000 following the August employment data, reversing from an intraday high around $81,370 as markets repriced the outlook for US interest rates. As crypto.news previously reported, BTC was trading near $79,600 after the release, down around 1.5% over 24 hours.

Rate futures at the time placed a 61% probability on a Fed hike at the Sept. 15 to 16 meeting, up from 52% before the employment figures were released, according to Reuters.

The Fed has since delivered that increase. Policymakers raised the benchmark rate by 25 basis points on Sept. 16, taking the federal funds target range to 3.75% to 4%. It was the central bank’s first rate hike since July 2023.

New projections released with the decision showed that 16 of 18 Fed officials expected at least one more rate increase before the end of 2026.

Citi’s revised forecast now places the first expected cut roughly nine months after the September hike. The bank had previously been among the more dovish forecasters on Fed policy, with its earlier projections calling for three cuts between October 2026 and January 2027.

Higher rates remain a pressure point for Bitcoin and crypto

Bitcoin has repeatedly reacted to changes in US interest rate expectations this year as inflation, employment and energy prices changed the path investors expected the Fed to take.

A stronger labor market gives policymakers less reason to lower borrowing costs to support employment, while persistent inflation has kept attention on the other side of the Fed’s dual mandate.

Inflation has remained above the central bank’s 2% target for more than five years. Fed officials have consequently kept open the possibility of tighter policy if monthly inflation readings fail to show sufficient moderation.

That backdrop has already produced periods of pressure across crypto markets. Ahead of the September Fed meeting, the global crypto market lost more than 2% as the probability of a 25 basis point rate increase moved above 92%. Bitcoin fell below $76,000 during the move.

Treasury yields and the US dollar can compete with risk assets for capital when investors expect rates to remain elevated. Crypto assets do not generate interest simply from being held, while higher yields on government debt can give investors another place to park capital.

Market behavior since the Fed meeting, however, has not followed a simple higher rates equals lower Bitcoin pattern.

Bitcoin has recovered despite the Fed rate hike

Bitcoin briefly moved toward $75,000 after the Sept. 16 decision but later recovered, eventually climbing above $86,000 as ETF demand returned, Treasury yields eased and short sellers were forced to close bearish positions.

The cryptocurrency briefly touched $87,000 this week, its highest level since late January. US spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded $433 million in net inflows on Sept. 18 after heavy withdrawals earlier in the week.

HashKey Group senior researcher Tim Sun said ETF inflows confirmed the rally instead of starting it, while the move through $82,000 triggered short covering that helped carry BTC higher.

BitGo Research has similarly argued that Bitcoin absorbed the Fed hike better than might have been expected. Research chief Greg Cipolaro pointed to Bitcoin’s recovery following both the Fed decision and the failed Senate cloture vote on the CLARITY Act.

The interpretation remains a market view rather than proof that Bitcoin has become insulated from monetary policy. BTC’s rebound coincided with several developments, including renewed ETF demand, falling Treasury yields, lower oil prices and short covering, making it difficult to attribute the move to one factor.

Citi’s new rate path therefore arrives as Bitcoin trades in a different environment from the one immediately following the August employment report. Markets have already absorbed one Fed hike, while policymakers have signaled that another increase remains possible before year end.

Fed Governor Christopher Waller and New York Fed President John Williams have said they favor holding rates steady as long as inflation continues to moderate on a monthly basis. Waller and Fed Governor Michael Barr have left the door open to further increases if incoming figures fail to show continued progress on prices.

Citi now expects the first reduction in June 2027, followed by cuts in September and December, replacing the three reductions it had previously forecast between October 2026 and January 2027.