Nikolas Sargeant
TL;DR
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Grayscale filed a fifth amendment with the SEC for its proposed Zcash ETF.
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The company plans to convert its existing Zcash Trust into an ETF named The Zcash ETF.
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The fund would trade on NYSE Arca under the ticker ZCH and charge a 2.5% annual sponsor fee.
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Zcash climbed more than 60% in seven days to approximately $840, briefly reaching $855, its highest price since 2018.
Grayscale Advances Proposed Zcash ETF
Grayscale has moved another step closer to launching the first US exchange-traded fund directly tracking Zcash after filing its fifth amendment with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday.
The proposed transaction would convert the company’s existing Zcash Trust into a spot ETF, giving investors regulated exposure to the privacy-focused cryptocurrency without requiring them to hold it directly.
According to the latest filing, the investment vehicle would be renamed The Zcash ETF following its conversion.
The amendment adds several operational details, suggesting Grayscale is progressing toward a potential launch while awaiting regulatory approval.
Zcash ETF to Trade Under ZCH Ticker
Grayscale plans to list the ETF on NYSE Arca under the ticker symbol ZCH. The company set the fund’s annual sponsor fee at 2.5%, meaning investors would pay $25 annually for every $1,000 invested, excluding the effects of price movements and other potential expenses.
The Bank of New York Mellon would act as the ETF’s transfer agent, while Coinbase Custody Trust Company would hold its ZEC assets.
Grayscale said the trust intends to issue shares continuously and has registered an unspecified number of shares.
The public offering price would vary based on factors including ZEC’s market value and the trading price of ZCH shares on NYSE Arca.
The fifth amendment follows an earlier filing in which Grayscale disclosed that a Digital Currency Group subsidiary was discussing a possible contribution of approximately 200,000 ZEC to the fund.
Such a contribution could provide a substantial pool of assets for the ETF. However, the earlier filing described the discussions as preliminary and did not confirm that the transfer would take place.
Digital Currency Group is Grayscale’s parent company. The existing Grayscale Zcash Trust has operated since 2017 and held more than $260 million in assets under management as of Friday.
Converting the trust into an ETF could improve share creation and redemption mechanisms while allowing the product to trade more closely to the value of its underlying ZEC holdings.
ZCH Would Be the First US Spot Zcash ETF
If approved, Grayscale’s fund would become the first spot Zcash ETF in the United States.
Zcash launched in 2016 and enables privacy-focused transactions through cryptographic technology. It was the 12th-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization at the time of the filing.
The asset’s privacy features could make the SEC’s review particularly significant, given regulatory concerns surrounding financial transparency and privacy-enhancing cryptocurrencies.
Bloomberg Intelligence ETF analyst James Seyffart said the successive filing updates indicate that the conversion process is advancing.
“Looks like they’re getting closer and closer to converting this thing into an ETF,” Seyffart wrote on X.
ZEC Surges to an Eight-Year High of $855
Zcash rallied more than 60% over the last seven days, reaching an eight-year high of $855. It has slightly retraced and now trades around $837 per coin.
ZEC’s market capitalization rose to approximately $13.8 billion, making it the 12th-largest cryptocurrency.
The advance extended a rally that was already gathering momentum across the broader cryptocurrency market.
Before Grayscale submitted its latest ETF filing on Friday, ZEC had gained more than 30% during the week as Bitcoin and other major digital assets advanced.
The latest rally also represents a substantial recovery from Zcash’s sharp decline in June.
At the time, ZEC dropped approximately 60%, falling from around $630 to $250 after developers disclosed a critical counterfeiting vulnerability affecting the network’s Orchard shielded pool.
Developers subsequently patched the vulnerability and reactivated Orchard through the NU6.2 network upgrade.
At its Saturday high of $855, ZEC had more than tripled from its June low and traded approximately 35% above its pre-selloff price.
Despite the strong recovery, Zcash remains roughly 75% below its all-time high of $3,191.93, leaving a substantial gap between current prices and its historical peak.
