#21shareslauncheseuropesfirstzcashetp
🇪🇺 Privacy Coins Just Got Their First European Brokerage Ticket
A few weeks after crossing into a U.S. brokerage account, Zcash just made the same jump in Europe.
What's happening:
Swiss issuer 21Shares launched Europe's first spot Zcash ETP on Tuesday, listing simultaneously on Euronext Paris and Euronext Amsterdam alongside a companion product tracking Ether.fi's ETHFI token. The Zcash ETP is physically backed, meaning it holds actual ZEC in custody rather than tracking the price through derivatives, and carries a 2.5% annual management fee — notably higher than most Bitcoin and Ethereum products available in Europe. The launch landed right as ZEC itself jumped more than 10% to around $1,605, continuing its recent record-breaking run. Scale-wise, the European product is starting small, with roughly 5,000 securities outstanding and assets near $100,000 at launch — a fraction of Grayscale's U.S. spot Zcash ETF, which has already gathered several hundred million dollars in assets since debuting on NYSE Arca in late August. 21Shares' Jasmin Muelhaupt described Zcash as "something truly distinct," pointing to its capped supply and optional privacy features as part of the investment case.
Why it matters:
Zcash's path into regulated products stands in sharp contrast to Monero, which has faced repeated exchange delistings and still has no ETF or ETP anywhere. The difference appears to come down to design: Zcash offers privacy as an optional, transparent feature rather than a mandatory default, which seems to be giving regulators and issuers an easier case to make. That distinction matters beyond just this one listing — it's a signal for how the broader privacy-coin category might or might not find its way into mainstream investment products going forward.
Something to sit with:
Does this European listing grow into a meaningful complement to the much larger U.S. fund, or does it stay a smaller, more niche product by comparison? Worth watching how quickly the European ETP's assets scale from here.
