$NEAR-USD

NEAR Protocol and Zodl have partnered to improve Zcash swapping, aiming to enhance accessibility and usability. Zodl, backed by major crypto investors, focuses on integrating Zcash into NEAR's ecosystem for faster, user-friendly swaps. No trading volume or price data has been released yet.

NEAR Protocol introduced two AI-focused staking models: IronClaw, converting commitments to hosting credits, and NEAR AI, converting to confidential inference capacity. The goal is to boost engagement in decentralized AI. NEAR token trading volume is $0, indicating low liquidity.

Crypto prices fell about 2% over the past week, with total market cap rising from $2.16T to $2.18T. Bitcoin traded near $63.3K below its 50-day and 200-week averages, with a $62K to $65K consolidation range. Zcash, Dash and Near gained; Cosmos, Aptos and Filecoin declined. JPMorgan estimated possible $2.8B outflows for Strategy. Hyperscale cut BTC reserves to ~275.

Crypto prices pulled back within a May-to-present consolidation range as the S&P 500 and Russell 2000 hit record highs, suggesting rotation away from tech. Cosmos rose 10% while Aptos (-4.7%), Bitcoin Cash (-4.5%) and NEAR (-4.4%) fell. Bitcoin slipped below $63K; Glassnode warns a break could target ~$58.5K. Riot Platforms sold 4,300 BTC; Metaplanet denied selling 5,014 BTC. Goldman Sachs agreed to acquire NEOS Investments, controlling 19 crypto ETFs with over $130B in AUM.

Bitcoin was up about 0.30% since midnight UTC near $63,600, while total crypto market cap fell 0.54% to $2.18T, according to CoinMarketCap. Altcoins HYPE (+2.7%) and XMR (+3.2%) outperformed. U.S. July CPI matched forecasts at 3.4% YoY; core eased to 2.5%.

Bitcoin rose 0.54% to $65,209 and ether gained 0.86% to $1,925 as reports said Iran may strike a deal with Oman to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, lifting Nasdaq 100 futures 0.45%. Altcoins were mixed, with Pump.fun (PUMP) up 5.39%. Liquidations fell 32% to $85M; BTC open interest slipped below 750K.

Bybit expanded its UTA Loan Interest-Free Borrowing program, adding 22 assets so eligibility now covers 24 assets total, including BTC, ETH, SOL, XRP, and stablecoins USDT and USDC. Bybit says zero interest applies for qualified automatic UTA borrowing triggered by unrealized losses on Perpetual or Futures positions within set limits, with capacity tied to VIP tiers.

A CoinDesk 20 market update says bitcoin and ether are the only members in positive territory as altcoins lose open interest and momentum. It cites data showing BTC futures open interest at 770K BTC and rising upside options bets, while XRP faces leverage pressure and ETH remains below 14M OI. It also discusses NEAR’s stake-to-compute model and demand concerns.

Crypto market cap rose for a second day to $2.19T as the dollar weakened and oil prices fell. Bitcoin climbed to about $64.3K after support near $62.5K. Binance Coin rose to around $600, testing two-month highs. Trezor and Foundation warned of phishing. Hashdex said it liquidated its spot Bitcoin ETF due to low AUM and liquidity.

NEAR co-founder Illia Polosukhin proposed on the NEAR forum creating a protocol sovereign fund to hold NEAR tokens and generate yield to fund ecosystem public goods, including security and validator support. The fund would be built from the protocol treasury and revenues, starting with about 30 million NEAR (~$53M). NEAR trades at $1.76, up 3.5% daily but down 29% yearly.