Zcash hits 8-year high as Grayscale pushes for ETF

A coin built for privacy just had its best week in years. Zcash jumped to about $800 to $850 on Saturday, a price it hasn't seen since 2018. The move came as Grayscale pushed forward its bid to turn the Zcash Trust into a regular ETF. That would let anyone buy Zcash through a normal brokerage account. Nearly $10 billion in Zcash futures traded in a single day. That's a sign speculators, not just long-term believers, are driving the rally.

Zcash is different from Bitcoin in one key way: transactions can be shielded, so amounts and wallet addresses stay private. For years, that made it a niche asset. Privacy advocates liked it, but big institutions stayed away over regulatory worries. Grayscale's ETF push is a bet that's changing. If a major asset manager offers a regulated, exchange-traded way to hold Zcash, that changes things. Big investors get exposure without ever touching a crypto wallet. That's a very different pitch than 'privacy coin for enthusiasts.' The rally suggests traders believe the bet is working.

Keep reading — what to watch

Will the SEC actually approve this ETF? Grayscale has amended its filing five times, a sign regulators keep asking for changes rather than rejecting it outright. That's not a yes, but it's not a no either. Also worth watching: how much of this rally survives once the futures-driven excitement fades. Nearly $10 billion changed hands in derivatives in a single day. That kind of volume can reverse just as fast as it built up. A coin jumping 40% in a week on ETF speculation alone is a bet on a decision nobody's made yet.