Grayscale Files Fifth Amendment as Zcash ETF Nears US Listing
A privacy coin is closer than it has ever been to trading on a US stock exchange like any ordinary equity. Grayscale filed Amendment No. 5 to its Form S-3 registration statement on August 21, the latest in a string of updates aimed at converting its long-running Grayscale Zcash Trust into a fully continuous spot ETF — and this round of paperwork reads less like a routine regulatory update and more like a company setting a launch date.
The filing renames the vehicle The Zcash ETF and sets a sponsor fee at an annual rate of 2.5%. It would list on NYSE Arca under the ticker ZCH, with the Bank of New York Mellon acting as transfer agent and Coinbase Custody Trust Company holding the underlying ZEC. Shares in the existing trust, which has traded over-the-counter under the ticker ZCSH since 2017, had already begun the transition to Arca around August 25 under regulatory approval, according to reporting on the filing — a preliminary step ahead of the full ETF conversion this amendment is meant to finalize.
Money is already positioning around the outcome. A subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, Grayscale’s parent, has been in non-binding talks to contribute roughly 200,000 ZEC — worth an estimated $110 million at the time discussions were reported — directly into the fund, a move that would meaningfully seed the ETF’s assets from day one rather than relying purely on organic inflows after listing.
The existing Zcash Trust is not a small vehicle to begin with. It has run continuously since 2017 and currently holds more than $260 million in ZEC, giving the converted ETF a real asset base rather than starting from zero the way most newly launched crypto ETFs do.
What makes this filing different from the wave of spot Bitcoin and Ether ETFs that preceded it is the asset itself. Zcash is a privacy coin, built around optional shielded transactions that obscure sender, receiver, and amount using zero-knowledge proofs — a feature set regulators have historically treated with far more caution than they apply to fully transparent chains like Bitcoin’s. A Zcash ETF clearing US listing requirements, if it holds, would be the first time a US-regulated fund offers direct exposure to a privacy-focused digital asset, and likely a signal to issuers watching other privacy coins from the sidelines.
None of this is final. Listing on NYSE Arca still requires regulatory clearance to actually complete, and Grayscale’s own filings have repeatedly noted that the process remains subject to SEC review at each stage. Five amendments in, though, the pace of back-and-forth between Grayscale and regulators suggests the conversation has moved well past the exploratory stage.
Zcash and other digital assets are volatile and carry risk of loss. ETF approval is not guaranteed and this article is not financial advice.
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