Zcash (ZEC) crossed into four-figure territory on Friday, breaking through $1,000 on its way to a new all-time high near $1,021.

The record extends a rally that has accelerated since Grayscale launched its first-of-its-kind ZCSH ETF, which continues to draw steady cash inflows as investors gain access to the first regulated route for exposure to a privacy coin in the United States. That access matters because privacy coins have historically been difficult for US investors to hold through conventional brokerage accounts, and Zcash's design — which lets users choose between transparent and shielded transactions — has positioned it as a privacy project that regulators and institutions have found comparatively approachable.

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

One day earlier, on September 3, Grayscale noted 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. Grayscale described 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 held over $313.5 million in assets under management as of August 25. In its latest disclosure, Grayscale reports $414,705,020 in assets under management held at Coinbase Custody, with BNY serving as fund administrator, and charges a 2.5% annual fee.

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

Corporate demand has also played a role. 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

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

The tailwind has reversed a difficult stretch for Zcash, which saw prices plunge after an Orchard pool vulnerability — one that could have allowed anyone to mint an unlimited amount of tokens — was exposed.

Monero, another privacy-focused token, has been delisted from several centralized exchanges over compliance concerns. That backdrop makes Zcash's US ETF listing a notable outlier among privacy assets, and it is one reason analysts have pointed to sustained ZCSH inflows, disclosure of fund holdings, and custody arrangements with regulated institutions like Coinbase Custody and BNY as indicators to watch in gauging whether institutional interest in privacy-coin exposure holds up.

However, the trend appears to be reversing, as actual flows into ZCSH, deeper liquidity, and efforts to align privacy with compliance set the stage for the next leg of the Zcash run.