ZEC Tops $1,500, Grayscale Zcash ETF Nears $1B

Grayscale’s ZCSH fund recorded $914.53 million in net assets after Zcash (ZEC) rose above $1,500. The token’s price is roughly double its level when ZCSH began trading on Aug. 25, leaving the fund about $85 million shy of the $1 billion threshold.

Since listing, the ETF has taken in $270.95 million of cumulative net inflows. Because the fund holds ZEC directly, appreciation of the token has increased the value of existing holdings as well as the value of new creations. ZCSH added more than $400 million in assets between Sept. 8 and Sept. 19, after Grayscale reported the fund had crossed $500 million two weeks after listing.

Derivatives markets showed heightened activity alongside the spot rally. Futures open interest reached an all-time high near $3.5 billion this week, and futures trading volume exceeded $10 billion for the first time since early June.

Zcash governance developments coincided with the price move. In an advisory vote this month, holders supported keeping the network’s Bitcoin-style halving schedule rather than switching to a smoother issuance model. About 2.4 million ZEC participated in the vote, representing roughly two-thirds of eligible supply. Voters also favored delaying the reissuance of tokens held by the Network Sustainability Mechanism until 2031; that mechanism removes a portion of transaction fees from circulation before those tokens can return via future block rewards while keeping Zcash’s supply cap at 21 million.

Participants additionally supported reducing block times from 75 seconds to 25 seconds under the proposed NU7 upgrade and recommended advancing NU7 as quickly as possible while excluding features that are not ready by a Sept. 30 implementation-readiness deadline. Those outcomes are advisory and require developers to decide which components will be implemented.

Grayscale announced a 3-for-1 forward split for ZCSH on Sept. 18 that will triple the number of outstanding shares and reduce the net asset value per share to roughly one-third of its pre-split level. Shareholders of record at the close on Sept. 28 will receive two additional shares for every share held. The distribution is scheduled after the close on Sept. 29, with split-adjusted trading expected before the market opens on Sept. 30. The split will not change an investor’s aggregate position value, and the fund will retain its ZCSH ticker and existing CUSIP.

If inflows continue and ZEC maintains its recent price level, ZCSH could surpass $1 billion in assets before Sept. 30. The record level of futures open interest means a rapid decline in ZEC’s price would reduce the market value of the tokens the fund holds and affect the fund’s asset total.