Grayscale's spot Zcash ETF has surpassed $914 million in net assets less than a month after debuting on NYSE Arca, a roughly threefold increase from the $304 million to $313 million the fund held immediately after converting from the legacy Grayscale Zcash Trust on August 25, 2026. The conversion followed the same path Grayscale took with its bitcoin and ether trusts, which moved from over-the-counter vehicles to exchange-listed funds — a structure that trades intraday on a national securities exchange rather than over the counter.

The fund's rapid expansion came from two directions at once: cumulative net inflows that landed between $233 million and $271 million by mid-September, and a ZEC price surge that carried the token above $1,500, with intraday highs brushing $1,600.

Inside the Fund's Rapid Expansion

Trading under the ticker ZCSH, the ETF is the first US-listed product offering direct spot exposure to Zcash. Its ZEC holdings grew by approximately 28% to 596,269 ZEC as of September 18, 2026, with the increase coming entirely through in-kind creations rather than cash purchases — the standard ETF mechanism in which authorized participants deliver the underlying asset directly in exchange for new shares, so the fund stays fully backed by coins in custody. At current holdings, ZCSH controls roughly 3.5% of Zcash's total supply.

The single largest deposit came from DCG International Investments Ltd., which contributed approximately 85,705 ZEC in kind. Because DCG is the parent company of Grayscale Investments, the contribution reads less as a third-party endorsement and more as a related-party capital injection.

Trading volume exceeded $11 billion shortly after the ETF went live. The fund carries a 2.5% expense ratio, and Coinbase Custody is responsible for the safekeeping of its ZEC holdings. On September 30, Grayscale executed a 3-for-1 forward share split to bring the per-share price down following weeks of appreciation; a forward split increases the share count while proportionally lowering the per-share price, leaving the fund's total assets unchanged.

Why Privacy Coins Are Having a Moment

Zcash uses zero-knowledge proofs to enable shielded transactions, meaning users can transact without revealing the sender, receiver, or amount details on the public blockchain — a contrast with Bitcoin's fully transparent ledger, where transaction amounts and wallet addresses are visible to anyone. Privacy features of this kind have historically drawn regulatory scrutiny in several jurisdictions, which makes a custody-backed, NYSE Arca-listed wrapper a distinct access channel from direct token trading.

Shortly after Grayscale's launch, 21Shares introduced a European Zcash ETP on September 21-22, 2026, giving investors outside the US another regulated on-ramp to the asset.

On-chain activity for ZEC has risen alongside the ETF interest, and futures open interest hit record levels during September.

What the Milestone Means for the Broader Landscape

The DCG-affiliated in-kind contribution of roughly 85,705 ZEC accounts for a meaningful slice of total inflows, so organic external demand may be somewhat lower than the headline number suggests. Even stripping out the related-party deposit, however, still leaves well over $100 million in outside capital.

The 2.5% expense ratio could emerge as a competitive pressure point, and the arrival of the 21Shares ETP in Europe shows that competitors are already entering the market. From here, the signals to track are whether non-affiliated creations keep arriving, how quickly the European ETP gathers assets, and whether any additional issuer files for US-listed Zcash exposure — the same competitive dynamic that has played out across bitcoin and ether products.