Grayscale’s Zcash fund began trading on NYSE Arca as the Zcash ETF (ZCSH) this Tuesday, August 25, billed by the firm as the first exchange-traded product in the world to offer spot exposure to Zcash (ZEC) and carrying a sponsor’s fee of 2.5% a year.

ZCSH’s predecessor launched as a private placement in October 2017, and its shares have been quoted on OTCQX since October 2021. The registration statement went effective on August 24, NYSE Arca certified the listing the same day, and the fund shed the Grayscale Zcash Trust name in the process.

NAV Discount Narrows to 1%

The final prospectus also fills in the fee rate, a line that was still blank when CryptoPotato covered the August 18 amendment disclosing contribution talks with a Digital Currency Group (DCG) unit last week.

“As AI reshapes how financial activity can be monitored, we believe demand for genuine financial privacy will only grow. With ZCSH, Grayscale is building on its history of industry firsts by giving investors a way to gain exposure to one of the market’s leading privacy-focused assets,” said Steve Vanourny, Head of Index at Grayscale.

Coinbase Custody Trust Company holds the fund’s ZEC, and Foreside Fund Services acts as the marketing agent.

Shares that traded at a 17% discount to net asset value on June 30 narrowed to a 7% discount by August 12 and 1% by August 20, when they closed at $45.34 on OTCQX. The trust reported a net asset value of $155.2 million at the end of June, when its holdings amounted to approximately 2.3% of the ZEC in circulation.

The prospectus also carries forward the warning that DCG, Grayscale’s parent, may come to own a majority of the shares. DCG International Investments, a subsidiary, remains in discussions to acquire shares through an authorized participant in exchange for roughly 200,000 ZEC, a stake expected to constitute “a substantial portion” of the fund’s ownership. The talks are not binding, and the unit “could determine to purchase more, fewer, or no Shares,” the document states.

ZEC Trades Near an Eight-Year High

Launched in 2016, Zcash pairs a Bitcoin-style 21 million coin supply cap and proof-of-work consensus with optional transaction privacy that shields sender, recipient, and amount details.

Grayscale’s announcement even cites the network’s upgrade record, from Sapling in 2018 and Orchard in 2022 through the Ironwood upgrade that went live in July with a turnstile mechanism against counterfeit coins.

In a post on X, the firm put shielded supply at 4.4 million ZEC, roughly 26% of the circulating total.

ZEC changed hands at $785 on August 26, according to CoinGecko, the 12th-largest digital asset at a $13.2 billion market capitalization. Two days before the listing, the token touched roughly $880, its highest price since January 2018.

Source: CryptoPotato