Zcash surges to 10-year high above $1,600 as 21Shares launches first European ETP

Zcash (ZEC) surged to a 10-year high above $1,600 on September 23, 2026, driven by a wave of institutional adoption and privacy-focused updates. The rally coincided with 21Shares launching Europe's first physically backed Zcash ETP on Euronext Paris and Amsterdam, carrying a 2.5% fee. Additionally, hardware wallet maker Ledger integrated native support for private Zcash balances within its desktop app, allowing users to secure shielded transactions locally.

Zcash Market Performance

• ▪On September 23, 2026, Zcash rose to a 10-year high, briefly surpassing $1,600 and touching an intraday high near $1,680 before easing back to roughly $1,522
• ▪Zcash's market capitalization reached approximately $27.5 billion on September 23, 2026, ranking it as the ninth-largest cryptocurrency asset by market value

21Shares ETP Launches

• ▪Alongside its physically backed Zcash exchange-traded product, which carries a 2.5% fee, 21Shares launched a physically backed exchange-traded product tracking ETHFI, the governance token of the restaking protocol ether.fi, carrying the same 2.5% fee
• ▪On September 22, 2026, 21Shares listed Europe's first Zcash exchange-traded product on Euronext Paris and Euronext Amsterdam under the ticker ZCASH
• ▪The 21Shares Zcash exchange-traded product is physically backed, charges a 2.5% annual management fee, and uses BitGo as its institutional custodian

Zcash ETF Activity

• ▪Zcash exchange-traded funds drew $98.2 million in inflows during the week ending September 18, 2026, representing the largest weekly inflow among 14 tracked cryptocurrency products
• ▪Grayscale's Zcash ETF, trading under the ticker ZCSH on NYSE Arca, launched on August 25, 2026, and is scheduled to complete a 3-for-1 share split on September 30, 2026

Zcash Supply and Issuance

• ▪Fortitude Digital Mining reported mining approximately 28% of all Zcash produced during the first half of 2026, citing the network's proof-of-work model and capped supply
• ▪In September 2026, Zcash coinholders voted 98.9% to retain the network's Bitcoin-style halving model over smoother issuance

Debatable claims

• ▪Regulators should permit exchange-traded products for privacy-focused cryptocurrencies
• ▪Zcash will eventually replace Bitcoin as the dominant cryptocurrency