Grayscale filed a fifth amendment to the Form S-3 registration statement for its Zcash Trust on 21 August, targeting a listing on NYSE Arca on or about 25 August under the ticker ZCSH. The filing would convert the trust, which has traded over the counter since 2017, into a spot exchange traded fund, the first US ETF to track Zcash directly. It follows a fourth amendment filed just three days earlier, on 18 August.
The trust currently holds roughly 391,000 to 393,000 ZEC, worth more than $260 million, and the filing sets a sponsor fee of 2.5% a year, paid in ZEC. Bank of New York Mellon would serve as transfer agent, Coinbase Custody as custodian, and Jane Street and Virtu Americas as authorised participants, the firms that create and redeem ETF shares against the underlying asset.
The filing lands in the middle of a sharp rally. ZEC traded near $840 this week, close to an eight year high and up roughly 70% over seven days, part of a broader run in privacy coins some traders have started calling the next bitcoin trade. A spot ETF wrapper would be a first for that category, following bitcoin and ether onto US exchanges but carrying the added scrutiny regulators have applied to assets built around transaction privacy.
None of it is approved. The SEC has not signed off, and two amendments filed four days apart point to an active back and forth with regulators rather than a filing nearing completion. Grayscale’s target date of on or about 25 August is the company’s stated goal, not a commitment from the agency that has to sign it, and privacy coins have not had an easy path through that agency so far.
