Zcash hits eight-year high near $850 with futures volume near $10 billion amid Grayscale ETF push

Zcash’s ZEC (ZEC) has jumped more than 22% over the previous 24 hours to approximately $818.77 as of 1:00 p.m. EDT on Saturday, extending a weeklong rally amid Grayscale’s latest effort to convert its Zcash trust into an exchange-traded fund.The privacy-focused cryptocurrency briefly traded as high as $855 during the session, its highest level since 2018, according to The Block's Zcash Price page. ZEC has a market capitalization of about $13.8 billion and ranks as the 12th-largest cryptocurrency, according to The Block’s price data.The rally was already underway before Grayscale submitted its fifth amended registration statement on Friday. The Block reported earlier that day that ZEC had gained more than 30% for the week as bitcoin and other large cryptocurrencies advanced.ZEC’s latest leg higher followed Grayscale’s filing later Friday. The amendment said the existing Grayscale Zcash Trust would be renamed The Zcash ETF and set its annual sponsor fee at 2.5%, The Block previously reported.If approved, that conversion would make The Zcash ETF the first U.S. fund to directly track ZEC's price. Similar altcoin ETFs have been launched for Solana, XRP, Litecoin, Doge, BNB, Hyperliquid, and others, per The Block's Crypto ETF tracker.Not all of the altcoin funds have attracted significant inflows or volume, however. XRP ETFs saw $40 million in net inflows over the past week and Solana ETFs saw $28 million, per SoSoValue data, while Bitcoin funds took in nearly $2 billion over the same period.Derivatives markets were particularly active during ZEC's price surge this week, with ZEC futures volume reaching over $9.5 billion over the past 24 hours, per Coinglass data, compared with just $1.06 billion in volume on spot exchanges. Open interest currently stands at $1.8 billion, equivalent to about 13% of ZEC's market cap.Grayscale’s previous amendment also disclosed that a subsidiary of its parent company, Digital Currency Group, is considering acquiring 200,000 ZEC, worth about $164 million at current prices, through the trust. The discussions were nonbinding, meaning DCG could acquire more, fewer or no shares, The Block reported on Wednesday.Saturday’s rally also marked a significant recovery for ZEC from its sharp selloff in June. The token had fallen as much as 60% from approximately $630 to $250 after developers disclosed a critical counterfeiting vulnerability affecting the network’s Orchard shielded pool. Developers later patched the flaw and reactivated Orchard through the NU6.2 network upgrade.At Saturday’s peak, ZEC had more than tripled from that low in June, trading about 35% above its level before the selloff. Nevertheless, ZEC remains roughly 75% below the $3,191.93 all-time high recorded by The Block’s price page.Disclaimer: The Block is an independent media outlet that delivers news, research, and data. As of November 2023, Foresight Ventures is a majority investor of The Block. Foresight Ventures invests in other companies in the crypto space. Crypto exchange Bitget is an anchor LP for Foresight Ventures. The Block continues to operate independently to deliver objective, impactful, and timely information about the crypto industry. Here are our current financial disclosures.© 2026 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.