US spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded USD 159.45 million in daily net inflows, led by BlackRock’s IBIT with USD 183.66 million.
NEAR surged nearly 28% following the launch of confidential perpetual futures.
Solana reduced its target slot time from 300ms to 250ms, continuing SIMD-0525’s roadmap toward a final target of 200ms.
The crypto market saw major developments as spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded USD 159 million in net inflows, while Zcash hit a 10-year High above USD 1500. Also, Near Protocol jumped around 28% to nearly USD 3.50, and Solana cut its target slot time from 300ms to 250 ms.
According to SoSoValue, the Bitcoin spot ETFs saw a total net inflow of USD 159.45 million yesterday. The Bitcoin spot ETF with the highest net inflow yesterday was BlackRock's IBIT, with a daily net inflow of USD 183.66 million, and the total historical net inflow of IBIT currently stands at USD 64.02 billion.
The Bitcoin spot ETF with the highest net outflow yesterday was Fidelity's ETF FBTC, with a daily net outflow of USD 16.64 million, and the total historical net inflow of FBTC currently stands at USD 10.05 billion.
The total net asset value of Bitcoin spot ETFs is USD 96.25 billion, with an ETF net asset ratio of 6.26%. The historical cumulative net inflow has reached USD 54.73 billion.
Zcash price surged above USD 1,500 on September 18, 2026, extending a roughly 215% rally from around USD 470 in mid-August. ZEC was up more than 10% over 24 hours and 46% over the past week as institutional demand, short liquidations and anticipation surrounding Zcash’s NU7 network upgrade fueled the move.
Grayscale’s spot Zcash ETF (ZCSH), which launched on August 25, has attracted significant institutional inflows, reportedly surpassing USD 500 million in assets under management by mid-September. Matt Huang, co-founder of Paradigm, also disclosed that the investment firm holds ZEC, describing the cryptocurrency as a privacy-focused counterpart to Bitcoin.
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Near Protocol (NEAR) price jumped nearly 28% over the past 24 hours to around USD 3.47 on September 18, extending its seven-day gain to more than 40% as trading activity surged alongside the launch of confidential perpetual futures.
NEAR Protocol introduced confidential by default perpetual futures on near.com on September 17, allowing traders to open positions without publicly linking the position to their account.
Hyperliquid provides the underlying execution and liquidity, while NEAR's Confidential Intents infrastructure handles the privacy layer.
The product gives users access to more than 50 perpetual markets while concealing details such as position size, direction and entry time.
Solana has cut its target slot time from 300 milliseconds to 250 milliseconds, increasing the rate at which the network produces slots by nearly 17% without raising its overall processing ceiling by the same amount.
According to blockchain data, the new setting went live on September 18 and brings Solana to four targeted slots per second, compared with roughly 3.3 under the previous 300ms configuration.
The change is the third stage of SIMD-0525, which is designed to gradually reduce slot times from the network’s original 400ms setting to a final target of 200ms.
A slot is the period in which a designated validator can produce a block. Shortening that period gives wallets, exchanges and trading applications more frequent updates on the state of the network.
Financial firm JPMorgan anticipates that in the coming months Bitcoin will outperform gold in relative performance if institutional investors begin unwinding their defensive hedges in exchange-traded funds, according to a report published on Thursday, September 17, 2026.
Analysts pointed out that institutional exposure across both assets increased following the Federal Reserve’s July meeting. However, the behavior of derivatives positions reflects a marked disparity between the two markets.
Net flows into exchange-traded vehicles indicate that gold has led institutional recovery throughout the year. According to the JPMorgan report, recent inflows into ETFs tied to the precious metal erased all prior capital losses from 2026. Meanwhile, Bitcoin-backed instruments have only offset half of the redemptions incurred over the same period.
Despite this gap in net flow figures, JPMorgan analysts argue that the underlying derivatives metrics present a different scenario.
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1. How much money flowed into Bitcoin spot ETFs?
US spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded total daily net inflows of approximately USD 159.45 million. BlackRock’s IBIT led with USD 183.66 million in net inflows.
2. Why is the Zcash price rising?
Zcash climbed above USD 1,500 amid institutional demand, short liquidations and anticipation surrounding its NU7 network upgrade. ZEC has risen roughly 215% from its mid-August level near USD 470.
3. Why did NEAR Protocol jump nearly 28%?
NEAR surged to around USD 3.47 as trading activity increased following the launch of confidential-by-default perpetual futures. The product combines Hyperliquid execution and liquidity with NEAR’s Confidential Intents infrastructure.
4. What does Solana’s 250ms target slot time mean?
Solana reduced its target slot time from 300 milliseconds to 250 milliseconds, targeting four slots per second. The change is part of SIMD-0525, which ultimately aims to reduce target slot times to 200ms.
5. Why does JPMorgan think Bitcoin could outperform gold?
According to the report cited in the article, JPMorgan analysts see potential for Bitcoin to outperform gold if institutional investors unwind defensive gold hedges. Their assessment also considers differences in derivatives positioning between the two assets.