TheBlock
Zcash's ZEC jumped more than 22% over 24 hours to roughly $818 as of Saturday afternoon, briefly tagging $855 and printing its highest level since 2018, according to The Block's price data. The move extends a week-long rally built around Grayscale's fifth amended registration statement to convert its existing Zcash Trust into a spot ETF, filed Friday. If approved, the renamed Zcash ETF, carrying a 2.5% sponsor fee, would become the first U.S. fund to directly track ZEC's price.
Why it matters
The filing lands inside an accelerating altcoin-ETF wave that has already produced funds tracking Solana, XRP, Litecoin, Dogecoin, BNB, and Hyperliquid, with mixed demand. XRP ETFs absorbed $40M in net inflows over the past week and Solana ETFs pulled in $28M, while spot bitcoin funds took in close to $2B over the same span. That spread is a reminder that altcoin-ETF demand has concentrated heavily on the majors so far, and a ZEC vehicle has to prove it can clear that bar. Grayscale's parent Digital Currency Group has separately disclosed that a subsidiary is considering acquiring 200,000 ZEC, worth roughly $164M at current prices, through the trust, though those talks remain nonbinding.
Market impact
Derivatives positioning has front-run the filing hard. ZEC futures volume topped $9.5B over the past 24 hours, versus just $1.06B on spot, with open interest at $1.8B, equivalent to about 13% of ZEC's $13.8B market cap. That ratio of futures to spot is closer to what traders see in mid-cap altcoin squeezes than in mature ETF underlyings. Saturday's peak also marked more than a triple from ZEC's $250 June low, when developers disclosed a counterfeiting vulnerability in the Orchard shielded pool that was later patched via the NU6.2 network upgrade. ZEC still trades roughly 75% below its $3,191 all-time high recorded by The Block's price page.
Frequently asked questions
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Why is ZEC hitting an eight-year high?
ZEC jumped 22%+ in 24 hours to ~$818, briefly tagging $855, after Grayscale filed its fifth amended registration to convert its Zcash Trust into a spot ETF on Friday.
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What would the Grayscale Zcash ETF look like?
The filing proposes renaming the existing Grayscale Zcash Trust to The Zcash ETF with a 2.5% annual sponsor fee. If approved, it would be the first U.S. fund to directly track ZEC's price.
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How does the ZEC derivatives market compare to spot?
ZEC futures volume topped $9.5B over the past 24 hours versus just $1.06B on spot, with open interest at $1.8B, roughly 13% of ZEC's $13.8B market cap, an unusually futures-heavy ratio for an altcoin.
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How have other altcoin ETFs performed?
XRP ETFs absorbed $40M in net inflows over the past week and Solana ETFs pulled in $28M, while spot bitcoin funds took in close to $2B, signaling altcoin-ETF demand has so far concentrated on the majors.
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What's the recovery story from ZEC's June selloff?
ZEC fell as much as 60% to ~$250 after developers disclosed a counterfeiting vulnerability in the Orchard shielded pool, later patched via the NU6.2 upgrade. Saturday's peak marked more than a triple from that low.
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