Markets experienced a notable downturn on Monday, signaling renewed trepidation among investors regarding the trajectory of Federal Reserve interest rate cuts and the resilience of the broader economy. Volatility continues to grip both traditional and digital asset markets as concerns around an “AI bubble,” lackluster macroeconomic data, and tightening liquidity weigh heavily on sentiment. This in-depth update examines the recent performance of major asset classes, emerging stress points across the crypto landscape, institutional responses, and innovative developments like the Near Intents protocol carving out new possibilities for cross-chain liquidity.
Traditional and Digital Markets Enter a Risk-Off Phase
Financial markets kicked off the week in a distinctly risk-off mood. Both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100, usually bellwethers for investor confidence in U.S. equities, slipped by 1% and 1.1% respectively. The tech sector bore much of the brunt, echoing anxieties about high valuations and uncertain future earnings, especially as bearish voices declare the potential for an “AI bubble” akin to the dot-com era.
Safe havens offered little solace to investors. Gold, often viewed as a store of value during turmoil, declined by 1.4%. Bitcoin, which has sometimes exhibited noncorrelated behavior with equities and commodities, fared worse—dropping 2.3% and slipping just above the $90,000 mark. This broad-based selloff underlines the degree of uncertainty pervading all corners of the investment universe.
Sector Breakdown: Crypto’s Reflexive Downturn
Monday’s selloff was pervasive. Except for a modest 1% gain among Bitcoin miners, nearly every major sector within the digital asset market registered losses. Particularly hard-hit were:
- L2 Tokens: Down 6.1%, reflecting deepening concerns about the sustainability of Layer 2 scaling projects amid deleveraging in decentralized finance (DeFi).
- Solana Ecosystem: Fell 5.6%, similarly afflicted by DeFi turbulence and risk aversion.
- Layer 1s (L1s): Dropped 2.3%, mirroring the slide in the broader REV index (a crypto market performance measure).
- AI, DePin, and RWAs: Each sector, encompassing artificial intelligence, decentralized physical infrastructure networks (DePin), and real-world asset tokenization (RWAs), notched losses in the range of 2.6% to 3.2%.
Week-over-week, none of the tracked crypto indexes have managed to maintain positive ground. Bitcoin itself is down 13% over the period—paradoxically marking it as one of the better-performing digital assets. Behind the scenes, the fundamental health of crypto networks deteriorated sharply, with Ethereum and Solana tokens plummeting 25-30% and the REV Index losing 13.3%.
Liquidity Crunch and Macro Headwinds
The crypto market’s reflexivity to broader economic conditions is especially apparent in phases like this. Unlike more mature asset classes, digital assets are often the first and hardest hit when overall dollar liquidity tightens. One harbinger of stress is the growing positive spread between the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR) and the Effective Federal Funds Rate (EFFR)—an indication that market participants are willing to pay above the Federal Reserve’s policy rate for access to cash. This development points to acute strains in overnight money markets and foreshadows risk-off behavior across the board.
Macro themes are poised to remain tense going forward. The recent resolution of the U.S. government shutdown is expected to inject some liquidity back into the financial system as the Treasury General Account (TGA) draws down. Still, debates persist on when quantitative tightening (QT) will end, and whether a potential pivot to Federal Reserve balance-sheet expansion could meaningfully buoy risk assets. Investors are closely watching impending data releases, including Nvidia’s earnings on Wednesday and the delayed September jobs report, postponed due to the government shutdown, set for Thursday.
Institutional Flows: ETFs Face Heavy Outflows
Bitcoin spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have shifted decisively to a phase of heavy outflows. Over the past three weeks, approximately $3 billion have left Bitcoin ETFs as institutional investors de-risk amidst a dearth of market confidence and mounting liquidity stress. The pattern extends to Ethereum spot ETFs, which saw about $1.2 billion in outflows over the same period.
In contrast, Solana ETFs have bucked the broader trend, pulling in nearly $650 million, a dynamic attributed to the launch of new Solana-based ETF products capturing fresh institutional interest.
Impact on Corporate Treasuries
Perennial winners in the crypto corporate treasury segment, such as MicroStrategy (MSTR), are also showing signs of strain. The market value-to-net asset value (mNAV) ratio for MSTR recently dipped below 1.0—to around 0.9x—marking a significant shift after having traded at 2-3x premiums during the bullish start to 2025. Other publicly traded firms holding substantial bitcoin reserves are similarly affected, with mNAV ratios dropping as low as 0.4x.
This compression of equity premiums has slowed corporate cryptocurrency accumulation to a crawl. Fundraising via share issuance is less lucrative, while persistent mNAV discounts threaten to spark a wave of asset liquidations from treasuries should negative sentiment linger.
The Plight of Bitcoin Miners
Bitcoin miners, usually a leading indicator of crypto network health, are struggling under multiple headwinds. Hashprice—a measure of miner earnings per unit of computational power—has collapsed to about $38 per petahash per second (PH/s), even as the network hashrate rebounds near 1,100 exahashes per second (EH/s). The declining profitability, driven by falling BTC prices, has triggered a sharp selloff among miner stocks—down around 17% in just one week.
Notably, increased market volatility has marginally supported miner revenues by pushing network fees up to approximately 1.2% of block rewards (vs. 0.5% at previous lows). However, these gains are insufficient to counter the broader collapse in mining economics.
This sector has also been stung by growing skepticism surrounding the “AI bubble,” with the AI-focused crypto index sliding roughly 20%. Nevertheless, some analysts suggest this dip may represent a buying opportunity, particularly as select miners pivot to become foundational infrastructure providers for the surging AI industry.
Near Intents: Redefining Cross-Chain Crypto Liquidity
While markets digest these macro wounds, innovation continues apace within the digital asset ecosystem. The Near Protocol’s latest breakthrough is the introduction of “Near Intents,” a new order type that enables users to specify desired transaction outcomes rather than precise execution paths. Launched in November 2024 as a core product, Near Intents employs a network of “solvers”—external agents who can identify and execute the optimal transaction to fulfill the user’s intent, for a fee.
Critically, this mechanism leverages Near’s chain abstraction stack and intent solver network to facilitate trading of hundreds of assets across diverse blockchains from a single account, eliminating the need for cumbersome bridging or wrapping of assets. The result is a frictionless, user-friendly experience encompassing vast swathes of the crypto landscape.
After incremental adoption during its initial months, Near Intents experienced an explosive breakout in October 2025, processing $1.72 billion in volume—a staggering 256% month-over-month increase. November’s numbers are even more remarkable: as of November 17th, the protocol had already handled $2.19 billion, on pace to settle nearly $4 billion by month’s end.
Fee Generation and User Growth
The surge in transaction activity has translated into rapid fee generation for the Near Intents platform. In November 2025 alone, the protocol has already collected $4.09 million in fees—surpassing the cumulative $3.95 million generated from inception through October. Should current rates of participation persist, Near Intents is poised to generate roughly $7 million in fees for November, cementing its status as a major revenue engine within the Near ecosystem.
Zashi Integration Spurs Exponential Expansion
The exponential growth of Near Intents has been catalyzed by the addition of Zcash (ZEC) support and its integration with Zashi, the leading Zcash mobile wallet. Zashi now enables users to conduct decentralized cross-chain swaps directly into ZEC within the wallet, a critical functionality for privacy-conscious users. A recent Zashi update has further improved the experience, permitting private swaps so that users can convert any Near-supported asset (such as BTC, ETH, or USDC) into shielded ZEC addresses. This eliminates earlier privacy gaps where swaps previously required manual shielding or exposed linking information between transparent and shielded addresses.
As a result, ZEC is now the third most-swapped asset on Near Intents, trailing only USDT and USDC, with cumulative swap volume surpassing $569 million since September 1, 2025.
The Road Ahead: Durable Innovation or Temporary Spike?
Looking forward, a key question is whether the recent surge in Near Intents activity represents a passing wave of demand—largely driven by ZEC accumulation—or the beginnings of enduring growth as users embrace its permissionless, cross-chain swap capabilities. Should the latter prevail, Near Intents could solidify its role as a cornerstone liquidity provider in the burgeoning multichain DeFi landscape. The attention garnered by private swaps and frictionless user experience has the potential to seed a loyal, “stickier” user base well beyond the initial privacy-driven cohort.
Conclusion: Crypto Markets Test the Limits, Innovation Endures
In summary, both traditional and digital asset markets are contending with a perfect storm of macroeconomic headwinds, liquidity stress, and episodic narratives like the purported “AI bubble.” Digital assets—famed for their reflexivity and outsized volatility—have not been spared, with week-over-week drawdowns outpacing most risk assets and institutional involvement receding in the face of uncertainty.
Yet, as stress tests the resilience of markets and participants, the crypto industry continues to press forward on the innovation front. Protocols like Near Intents are solving real-world user pain points, providing seamless, privacy-preserving cross-chain experiences and swiftly garnering adoption. Whether these innovations will underpin a more robust, versatile, and liquid crypto ecosystem remains to be fully seen—but their rapid uptake in the face of adversity offers a compelling glimpse into the future of decentralized finance.
