Grayscale Names 4 Crypto With Real Digital-Currency Use

Grayscale has spotlighted four cryptocurrencies built for digital-currency use within its Currencies sector, singling out Zcash as the asset with the most room to grow. 

Zach Pandl, Grayscale’s Head of Research, argues that Zcash could gradually capture part of Bitcoin’s enormous market share as demand for private digital payments grows.

Grayscale’s Four Digital-Currency Bets

Grayscale places Bitcoin, Litecoin, XRP and Zcash among the main assets in its Currencies Crypto Sector.

The broader sector contains roughly 15 cryptocurrencies worth about $1.6 trillion combined. Bitcoin controls close to 90% of that value.

Litecoin and XRP have spent years pitching themselves as faster or cheaper payment alternatives. Yet neither has seriously threatened Bitcoin’s position.

XRP’s market cap, for example, remains only a fraction of Bitcoin’s despite being one of crypto’s largest assets.

Assets with digital currency use case: $XRP, $LTC, $BTC, and $ZEC. Zcash has continued to capture market share, going from ~0.1% of Bitcoin's market cap a year ago ($ZEC price: ~$60) to ~1.5% today ($ZEC price: ~$1,500). As demand for privacy grows, Grayscale Research… pic.twitter.com/orylfb0XDe

— Grayscale (@Grayscale) September 29, 2026

Zcash offers a more unusual argument. Its main selling point is something Bitcoin, XRP and Litecoin do not provide by default: private transactions.

Why Grayscale Thinks Zcash Has Room to Grow

Zcash uses zero-knowledge proofs known as zk-SNARKs, allowing users to hide transaction amounts and wallet details.

By mid-2026, roughly 90% of Zcash transactions used shielded transfers. Grayscale sees that adoption as increasingly relevant as digital surveillance becomes more sophisticated.

The market has already noticed.

Zcash’s market cap has risen from roughly $4 billion in March to about $24.27 billion today. Yet that still leaves it below 1% of Bitcoin’s roughly $1.56 trillion valuation.

Other things = Zcash https://t.co/Prhqy9xMs1

— Thor Torrens (@ThorTorrens) September 29, 2026

ZEC trades near $1,431 and has risen almost 19-fold over the past year.

That rally makes Grayscale’s thesis harder to dismiss. 

It also raises the obvious question: after such a huge run, is Zcash still an overlooked challenger, or has the market already started pricing in the privacy story?