Bitcoin went on the offensive once again: during the trading session on September 18, the top cryptocurrency broke past $80,000 and briefly topped $81,000, triggering a fresh short squeeze and a wave of liquidations. The move set the tone across the market — NEAR gained as much as 32–46%, XRP raced toward $1.4, and tokenization tokens were among the leaders. As outlets observed, the market stopped reacting to negative news.

The day's agenda, however, was not set by prices alone. The CFTC sent a crypto market rulemaking plan to the White House, the U.S. Treasury tightened sanctions on an Iranian exchange, and institutional players kept building bridges between crypto infrastructure and traditional finance.

Market: bitcoin above $81,000, altcoins play catch-up

After breaking $80,000, bitcoin briefly topped $81,000 amid the rally and the short squeeze: Decrypt reported a wave of liquidations, while Crypto News Flash noted that the market stopped reacting to negative news. Riding the upswing, NEAR gained about 32% and, according to U.Today, later surged 46% to break through the $3.5 barrier — the outlet links the rally in part to the broader rise in tokenization tokens, which led the gains.

XRP rose 6.9% and moved toward $1.4, triggering short liquidations worth millions of dollars; according to Decrypt, the rally also reopened the prospect of a "golden cross" for bitcoin. The signals around XRP, however, remain mixed: CoinJournal notes that the coin is holding near $1.30 while open interest in futures is falling, which is read as a sign of weak demand.

Solana also turned in a positive performance: SOL reached $112, and trading volume in the liquid staking token BSOL hit $85 million, reflecting growing interest in the ecosystem's staking. LINK, meanwhile, rebounded 6%, testing the resistance zone near $12. Ethereum's technical picture stays moderately positive: support at $2,400 is holding, with bulls targeting $2,570 and $3,000.

Regulatory agenda: CFTC, SEC and sanctions

The day's key story was the CFTC submitting a crypto market rulemaking plan to the White House at the prerule stage, effectively bypassing the CLARITY Act stuck in Congress. The initiative envisions crafting rules through the executive branch; several outlets describe the move as extending a compliance win to the whole industry. Rulemaking at the White House level sets a new regulatory framework for the entire U.S. crypto market for years to come.

The SEC, according to Decrypt, approved a so-called "innovation exemption" that moves the tokenized stocks market forward — a step toward legitimizing tokenization of traditional assets at a regulated level.

The U.S. Treasury blacklisted Iranian exchange BitBank, linking it to bitcoin transfers to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the collection of "bitcoin tolls" for ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz. The sanctions show the regulatory consequences of using crypto to circumvent sanctions regimes and raise compliance risk for the industry.

TRX flows also drew attention against this backdrop: according to Protos, tokens that arrived at TRON Inc.'s wallet came from the HTX exchange following UK sanctions.

Exchanges and institutional flows

Coinbase filed with the CFTC for approval to bring single-stock perpetual futures to the U.S. market, with Apple, Tesla and Nvidia shares among the assets under consideration. The product widens the bridge between crypto derivatives and the traditional stock market. According to Crypto News Flash, Coinbase has also wired roughly 3,000 banks into its infrastructure in anticipation of a ruling that has not yet come.

Binance is expanding its TradFi push: the exchange is launching 24/7 foreign-exchange perpetuals with a weekend pricing system, announcing a USD/BRL contract with leverage up to 100x. Bybit previously entered 24/7 FX perpetuals.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin Magazine reported that the president of the European Central Bank blocked Binance from entering the European Union market; the report is not confirmed by official sources and requires verification.

Crypto stocks rebounded after the selloff triggered by the CLARITY Act as U.S. regulators move ahead — a sign of returning risk appetite. Bloomberg strategist Eric Balchunas said bitcoin ETF assets could triple those of gold ETFs, while his colleague pointed to U.S. bond yields near 5% as an alternative when comparing investments in bitcoin and gold.

Tokenization and RWA

WisdomTree is opening its tokenized U.S. Treasury fund (WTGXX) to roughly 35 million MoonPay accounts, widening retail access to digitized government securities; the product is positioned in the context of stablecoin reserves. Morpho, meanwhile, is opening lending pools that allow borrowing against tokenized Coinbase shares on Base, tying DeFi lending to tokenized traditional assets.

Stablecoins and DeFi

Stress in the structured stablecoin segment showed up in the Neutrl episode: the protocol is opening redemptions of its NUSD stablecoin at 51 cents per token, while Strata's junior tranche faces a potential full wipeout. Redemption at nearly a 50% discount highlights real losses for holders of such instruments.

Derivatives DeFi keeps expanding: Hyperliquid is adding native lending amid rising borrowing demand, while the Hypercall project offers accessible options trading settled on Hyperliquid. Polygon, for its part, is preparing a permissionless burn mechanism for 100 million POL, allowing participants to trigger token burns without additional permission.

Altcoin ecosystem: XRP, Zcash and more

Institutional sentiment around XRP is strengthening: a treasury firm raised $30 million to buy more tokens, and Binance recorded a six-month high in XRP whale inflows, with around 1.6 billion tokens moved — a signal that may point to increased activity among large holders. XRP Ledger itself received a performance boost in its latest network upgrade; according to U.Today, the network processed a figure of 1.2 billion in 24 hours, described as recovery after recent outages. DailyCoin, in turn, flagged an ultra-bullish RSI reading for XRP and raised the question of the $2 target level.

XRP is also an evergreen target for scams: Ripple veteran David Schwartz personally exposed a fake XRP airdrop and warned users about the scheme, and also commented on exchanges' hesitation to list a bitcoin-based asset.

Zcash is preparing to speed up private payments: in the next major network upgrade, developers are aiming for roughly a threefold increase in speed. Privacy assets are also drawing institutional money — the Zcash ETF plans a 3-for-1 split weeks after crossing the $500 million AUM milestone. Barry Silbert, according to U.Today, is doubling down on an AI token he compares to a potential "next Zcash (ZEC)" — though the piece is promotional-analytical in nature.

Security

Attacks using blockchain "dead drops" jumped 420%, and state-sponsored hackers are expanding this vector: the technique is used to covertly transfer data in targeted device compromises.

Authorities in the UAE and Sweden arrested seven people over a crypto laundering scheme worth nearly $7.1 million; the network is linked to contract killings. YouTube channels of Charles Hoskinson and Cardano were also hacked, with fraudulent materials and links posted — users are urged not to click them. A separate risk comes from fake tutorials on building AI bots: 224 victims deployed malicious drainers following scammers' instructions.

Forecasts and analysis

Forecasts rounded out the public agenda: Kevin O'Leary said bitcoin will reach $1 million but flagged a "quantum catch" as a potential threat; a trader expects a run to $100,000 before the U.S. midterms; an analyst projects HYPE at $100 after an all-time high. Technical analysis of SHIB, ZEC, ETH and DOGE describes the situation as a pivotal moment for the market, while separate reviews weigh whether AVAX can reach $15 after its latest breakout. On the macro front, gold is testing wedge resistance ahead of the Fed decision, and silver bulls are targeting $70. Shiba Inu, meanwhile, saw a rare "zero" day in the SHIB burn tracker — likely a quirk of how the data is tallied.

In brief: other news

Beyond the crypto market itself, the day brought several side stories: Microsoft staff were asked whether AI data scraping is "the largest theft of labor in human history"; Protos linked Amazon's $190 billion package in Anthropic to SBF; traders reportedly believe Leopold Aschenbrenner bet about $96 million on AI options (unconfirmed); and CT3 announced it will participate as a speaker at CoinFerenceX Singapore 2026.