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Robinhood announced on July 1 that it is expanding its perpetual futures trading offerings in Europe to include traditional assets such as commodities, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), and foreign exchange (FX) pairs. This move marks a significant diversification beyond the cryptocurrency-only perpetual futures that the platform previously offered in the region.

Eligible European customers can now trade perpetual futures contracts linked to assets including gold, crude oil, popular ETFs like QQQ and EWY, and FX pairs such as EUR/USD. These new offerings come with up to 10x leverage and are available for trading 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Perpetual futures are financial contracts that allow traders to speculate on an asset’s price without owning the underlying asset, and they do not have an expiration date. Their price is typically kept aligned with the spot price through a mechanism known as funding rates.

This expansion into traditional assets represents a notable step for Robinhood, moving beyond its initial focus on crypto perpetual futures. According to the FactSheet, when Robinhood first introduced perpetual futures for Bitcoin and Ethereum in Europe, the product line eventually expanded to include other cryptocurrencies like XRP, DOGE, SOL, and SUI, offering up to 7x leverage. These crypto perpetual futures quickly became one of the fastest-growing products on the platform following their European rollout.

The expansion of perpetual futures to traditional assets is part of a broader international strategy for Robinhood. The company is actively pursuing other international market opportunities, including seeking crypto trading capabilities in the United Kingdom. Additionally, Robinhood has acquired WonderFi to establish a presence in the Canadian market and is pursuing a capital markets service license in Singapore.

Beyond product and market expansion, Robinhood is also developing its own blockchain infrastructure. The company is working on Robinhood Chain, a Layer-2 blockchain designed for tokenized assets, with a public mainnet launch planned. Furthermore, users of the Robinhood Wallet in eligible regions can access decentralized perpetual futures through the Lighter exchange, which includes incentive structures tied to the $LIT token.

This strategic diversification and international push indicate Robinhood’s ambition to broaden its appeal and service offerings to a wider range of investors and markets globally.

Why This Matters

The materials describe a narrow update: Robinhood has launched perpetual futures trading for traditional assets such as commodities, ETFs, and foreign exchange pairs in Europe. The expansion into traditional assets represents a meaningful leap beyond Robinhood’s previous crypto-only perpetual futures.

Broader Context

Source materials place the factual news in this context: Robinhood announced on July 1 that it’s expanding its perpetual futures offerings in Europe to include traditional assets like commodities, ETFs, and foreign exchange pairs, a meaningful leap beyond the crypto-only perps it launched earlier.

Bitwise Launches First Spot Near ETF in U.S.

Bitwise commenced trading its Near ETF on Tuesday, offering U.S. investors a new avenue to gain exposure to the AI-focused Near blockchain through conventional brokerage accounts. The fund, listed on NYSE Arca under the ticker NRR, carries an annual fee of 0.75%, according to Bitwise.

The company touts the fund as the first spot Near fund in the United States. The term “spot” signifies that the ETF holds actual Near tokens, as opposed to futures contracts, which are derivatives based on anticipated price movements.

Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are investment vehicles that can be bought and sold like stocks. For individuals who have avoided cryptocurrency exchanges or digital wallets, this offers a simplified entry point: the underlying tokens are held within the fund, and the ETF shares appear alongside other investments in their brokerage application.

The timing of the ETF’s launch appears opportune, particularly given Near’s recent surge in performance, with its value skyrocketing since May.

This is not the first significant price movement for Near this year. In May, the token experienced a 28% jump within 24 hours, driven by upgrades related to privacy, artificial intelligence, and scaling. However, it subsequently retreated to around $2 over the summer. Currently, Near is trading just above $5, with a market capitalization of $6.5 billion. Despite this recent uptick, the token remains approximately 75% below its all-time high of over $20.

Near operates as a layer-1 blockchain, serving as a foundational network upon which other applications are built, placing it in the same category as prominent networks like Ethereum and Solana. Its main network was launched in 2020.

The connection to artificial intelligence stems from co-founder Illia Polosukhin, who is also a co-creator of the Transformer architecture, the underlying technology for models such as ChatGPT. Near established an AI research lab in May 2024, under the leadership of Polosukhin and co-founder Alex Skidanov.

Bitwise’s investment thesis emphasizes the potential of AI agents, which are software programs designed to perform tasks on behalf of users, such as making payments or booking travel arrangements.

“We are moving toward a world in which AI agents increasingly act on our behalf, coordinate with one another, and participate in the economy,” stated Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsley. “We believe this shift—to an agentic economy where more and more happens through AI agents—could unlock an enormous new frontier for the global economy. NEAR is building a platform for that future.”

Bitwise also highlighted that Near Intents, a service facilitating asset swaps across different blockchains, has processed over $32 billion in volume.

The Bitwise fund also engages in token staking. Staking involves locking up tokens to support the validation of network transactions, with participants earning rewards in return, akin to interest but paid in additional tokens. Bitwise anticipates that its internal team will stake the fund’s Near holdings to achieve average rewards of approximately 5%, which will accrue to shareholders through an increase in the fund’s per-share value.

However, these rewards are not guaranteed. Bitwise’s disclosures indicate that reward rates are subject to change, and staking carries the risk of “slashing,” which involves penalties imposed when a validator violates network rules. Furthermore, the fund concentrates on a single asset, and Bitwise cautions that investors could potentially lose a substantial portion or all of their investment.

Bitwise initially filed paperwork in Delaware for a Near fund in April 2025, when the token was trading at $2.61. Grayscale subsequently filed in January 2026 to convert its existing Near trust into an ETF, at a time when Near was priced around $1.54.

The regulatory landscape for such funds became more favorable in September 2025, when the SEC approved generic listing standards. These standards allow exchanges to list qualifying crypto funds without requiring individual approval for each one. Following this, funds for Litecoin, Hedera, and Solana were introduced in October of that year, including Bitwise’s own Solana staking ETF.

Bitwise charges an annual fee of 0.75% for the NRR ETF, which translates to $75 for every $10,000 invested.

U.S. Bitcoin ETFs have seen substantial net inflows totaling $2.95 billion over the past 30 days, extending a streak of positive daily inflows to eight consecutive trading days. This sustained investor interest has coincided with a return to profitability for the average ETF holder, whose cost basis stands at $81,722.

While the streak has been positive, the most recent day of inflows saw a modest $31.07 million, marking the weakest day of the current run. BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) continued to attract investment, adding $54.84 million on Monday. However, other major funds experienced outflows, with Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) losing $23.19 million and Fidelity’s FBTC shedding $10.90 million on the same day.

This recent period of positive inflows follows a more turbulent stretch. On September 15th, Bitcoin ETFs collectively experienced an outflow of $450.4 million, the largest single-day loss since June 24th. This outflow occurred on the same day the U.S. Senate voted 49-50 against advancing the Clarity Act, a measure that required 60 votes to proceed. Ethereum ETFs also saw outflows on that day, losing $142.3 million.

The week ending September 15th was particularly challenging for Bitcoin ETFs, with net inflows totaling just $6.2 million, the smallest weekly inflow recorded in 141 weeks. However, investor activity rebounded sharply in the subsequent days. On September 21st, Bitcoin ETFs attracted nearly $1 billion, followed by $715 million on September 22nd. While the pace moderated, inflows continued, with $347 million on September 23rd, $191 million on September 24th, and $134 million on September 25th. This resulted in a weekly total inflow of approximately $2.4 billion for the week ending September 25th, marking the largest weekly haul since October 2025.

The positive trend in Bitcoin ETFs has also seen the cryptocurrency trading above the average ETF holder’s cost basis of $81,722, indicating that typical investors in these funds are now in profit for the first time since January. Bitcoin was trading above $84,000 on Monday.

This broader interest in crypto investment vehicles is not limited to Bitcoin. Over the past 30 days, Ethereum ETFs have added $982.5 million, with $17.1 million in inflows on Monday, according to SoSoValue. Solana funds saw inflows of $278.2 million over the month, and XRP funds brought in $127.05 million during the same period.

While the current streak of inflows is notable, it is not a record for the summer. An earlier nine-day run of inflows ended on August 28th, when the funds experienced $201.9 million in outflows. This occurred after comments from Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh at Jackson Hole, a period where market participants often attempt to anticipate the Federal Reserve’s future monetary policy decisions.

The current inflows suggest a renewed investor confidence in Bitcoin ETFs, driving profitability for many investors. However, the market remains subject to fluctuations, as evidenced by past outflows and the mixed performance of individual funds on a daily basis.

Why This Matters

The materials describe a narrow update: Bitcoin ETFs in the U. The exact date of the ‘Monday’ mentioned for the weakest inflow day and specific fund movements is not provided.

Broader Context

Source materials place the factual news in this context: Bitcoin ETFs are having a very good month, all things considered.

Zcash Surges as Demand for Financial Privacy Grows

New York, NY – September 30, 2026 – A year ago, Zcash was a negligible player in the cryptocurrency market, its market capitalization a mere 0.1% of Bitcoin’s. However, recent research from Grayscale indicates a dramatic shift, with Zcash’s market share climbing to 1.5% by September 2026.

The digital currency, ZEC, experienced a remarkable surge, escalating from approximately $60 to around $1,500 over twelve months. This nearly 19-fold increase propelled its market capitalization to nearly $13.74 billion by late August. For perspective, Bitcoin’s market capitalization stood at approximately $1.56 trillion during the same period.

Grayscale’s report, released on September 29, 2026, attributes this significant rally to an increasing demand for financial privacy. The underlying thesis suggests that as blockchain transparency advances and on-chain surveillance tools become more prevalent, a growing number of users and investors are prioritizing the ability to conduct transactions privately.

Zcash’s defining characteristic is its shielded transactions, which allow users to encrypt sensitive data such as sender, receiver, and transaction amounts, while still maintaining settlement on a public blockchain.

By the end of September 2026, ZEC was trading around $1,400, with its market capitalization reported to be between $23 billion and $24 billion. This suggests sustained momentum following an initial price spike earlier in the summer.

Grayscale analyzes this market opportunity in relative terms. The firm identifies Bitcoin as the dominant force in the “currencies sector” of the crypto market, commanding approximately 90-93% of that category’s total market capitalization.

Grayscale Launches Zcash ETF, Boosting Accessibility

A key development contributing to Zcash’s increased visibility was the launch of Grayscale’s Zcash ETF on August 25, 2026. Trading under the ticker ZCSH on NYSE Arca, the exchange-traded fund represents a conversion of Grayscale’s established Zcash Trust, which has been in operation since 2017.

The transition from a trust to an ETF is significant because it addresses the persistent issue of premiums or discounts to net asset value that affected Grayscale’s earlier trust products. The ZCSH ETF now offers direct exposure to ZEC, incorporating an arbitrage mechanism designed to keep its market price closely aligned with the underlying asset’s value. Reports indicate that the ETF has attracted substantial inflows since its inception.

Future Potential and Associated Risks

Grayscale’s research also includes hypothetical scenarios illustrating ZEC’s potential price trajectory based on different levels of market-cap capture relative to Bitcoin. For instance, if Zcash were to achieve 2% of Bitcoin’s market capitalization, the implied ZEC price would be approximately $1,622. Grayscale emphasizes that these figures are purely hypothetical and not predictive forecasts.

Zcash’s privacy features are optional, allowing users to enable or disable them as needed, utilizing shielded transactions powered by zero-knowledge proofs.

However, Grayscale acknowledges that privacy-focused cryptocurrencies carry inherent risks. ZEC exhibits significantly higher volatility compared to Bitcoin. Furthermore, regulatory scrutiny poses a considerable challenge, with several exchanges having delisted privacy-centric tokens in recent years due to concerns over money laundering.

Mirroring Bitcoin’s scarcity model, Zcash also features a capped supply of 21 million coins.