ZEC smashes through new price record as Grayscale ETF stays hot

Zcash (ZEC) reached new four-figure levels on Friday as the token crossed $1,000 on its way to a new price record around $1,021. 

The rally to a fresh all-time high extends a rally that has snowballed since Grayscale launched its first-of-its-kind ZCSH ETF, which continues to see steady cash inflow as investors jump on board the first regulated route to gain exposure to a privacy coin in the United States. 

ZEC was trading around $1,008 as of this Cryptopolitan report, up nearly 20% on the day, according to CoinMarketCap, with market capitalization up around the same percentage to around $17 billion. 

Just one day earlier, on September 3, Grayscale called ZEC’s surge past $900, crediting “the hard money thesis and growing awareness around digital privacy” for driving “new price discovery.” 

Zcash has been riding high since the Grayscale ETF 

As Cryptopolitan reported on August 25, Grayscale converted its Zcash Trust into an ETF and listed ZCSH on NYSE Arca after regulators gave the all-clear signal. Grayscale touted the launch as the first and only exchange-traded fund anywhere to offer direct spot exposure to ZEC

Money has followed the launch. The Zcash Trust had over $313.5 million in assets under management as of August 25.  As of its latest disclosure, Grayscale reports holding $414,705,020 in assets under management held at Coinbase Custody and BNY as fund administrator, with a 2.5% annual fee. 

ZEC gained around 82% through August, with analysts crediting the ETF launch for a run that saw the network’s market cap grow from about $8 billion to more than $14 billion.

Corporate demand has also helped. Cryptopolitan reported that Cypherpunk Technologies disclosed a holding of 323,394.38 ZEC, roughly 1.92% of the circulating supply.

ZEC rally has followed broader crypto market run

Notably, ZEC’s rise has been buoyed by a crypto-wide rally that pushed the global market cap to its highest in more than seven months. 

The tailwind has reversed a tough stretch for Zcash, which saw the bottom almost fall out after an Orchard pool vulnerability that could have allowed anyone to mint an unlimited amount of tokens was exposed. 

Monero, another token to have ridden the privacy train, has been delisted from several centralized exchanges over compliance concerns.

However, the trend appears to be reversing as actual flows into ZCSH, deeper liquidity, and aligning privacy with compliance are lining up the next leg of the Zcash run.

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