ZEC traded above $1,000 on Sept. 4 for the first time since its 2016 listing spike, with an intraday high near $1,023–$1,046.
Grayscale’s ZCSH ETF held $463.2 million in non-GAAP assets and 444,608 ZEC as of Sept. 4, after listing on NYSE Arca on Aug. 25.
About $34.5 million of short positions were liquidated as 24-hour volume hit roughly $1.2 billion.
Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan named Zcash as the privacy allocation among three multi-year crypto stories to own.
Zcash’s native token pushed through the $1,000 level on Friday for the first time since a brief spike around its late-2016 exchange listing, as demand for the first U.S. spot product tied solely to ZEC collided with a short squeeze. ZEC jumped about 20% over 24 hours after starting the session near $828 and trading as high as roughly $1,023, lifting its market value toward $17 billion.
Spot volume reached about $1.2 billion on the breakout day. The token is up about 94% over the past month and more than 2,300% over the past year, according to the same market recap. Weekend trading kept ZEC above the round number, with CoinGecko later showing prices holding four figures as bitcoin also traded near multi-month highs.
Leveraged bears were forced to cover. About $36.6 million of ZEC derivatives positions were liquidated in 24 hours, including $34.5 million of shorts, a flush that can mechanically add buy-side flow in a relatively thin market. Separately, Arthur Hayes posted a one-hour chart of ZEC at $1,021.69 and wrote that he had been “zidelined,” while Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan grouped Zcash with bitcoin and tokenization as one of three stories he said investors should own for the next decade.
The listed wrapper is doing more of the heavy lifting than it did as an OTC trust. Grayscale converted that vehicle into The Zcash ETF (ZCSH), which began trading on NYSE Arca on Aug. 25. Official figures dated Sept. 4 show $463.2 million of non-GAAP assets, 444,608 ZEC in the fund, 5,549,300 shares outstanding, a market price of $83.77 versus NAV of $83.48, and a 2.50% management fee. The Block reported at least $34.4 million of net inflows since the listing, noting that early-September creation data looked incomplete, so price appreciation and the inherited trust book still explain most of the AUM jump from the roughly $304 million conversion print.
That structure cuts both ways for traders. Creations give brokerages a regulated path into a privacy asset that previously sat behind a steep trust discount, but a 2.50% fee is high versus flagship bitcoin products, and modest incremental demand can move ZEC sharply in either direction. Network hashrate has also risen with price, which pressured estimated miner revenue even as the token rallied. Privacy-coin regulation and residual questions around Zcash’s shielded pools remain live risks after the June Orchard disclosure and the subsequent Ironwood upgrade.
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