The native token of Zcash, ZEC, broke past $1,000 for the initial time—omitting a brief period of extreme volatility following its initial exchange listings in late 2016—driven by accelerating capital flowing into Grayscale’s newly introduced exchange-traded fund alongside an influx of fresh computing capacity onto the blockchain.
ZEC reached a peak of $1,023 on Friday, extending its performance for the month to an approximate 94% increase and elevating its total market valuation close to $17 billion. The privacy-centric digital asset was changing hands near $200 back in March.
This upward surge comes in the wake of Grayscale’s August 25 rollout of the Zcash ETF, which is listed on the NYSE Arca under the ticker designation (ZCSH). The product, transitioned from the firm’s prior Zcash Trust, stands as the inaugural U.S. ETF providing unmediated exposure to ZEC (ZEC).
ZCSH has accumulated roughly $34.4 million in total net inflows since its launch, based on statistics provided by Grayscale. That metric is likely somewhat understated relative to the actual aggregate, given that records for September 3 and 4 appear partially missing. The product’s most successful single day to date occurred on September 2, pulling in $12.6 million.
Miners pile in
The escalating enthusiasm surrounding Zcash has likewise expanded into its mining ecosystem. The network hash rate of Zcash, measured as solrate, advanced from roughly 25 GSol/s near the end of August to momentarily surpass 30 GSol/s, according to data from ZcashInfo.
Nevertheless, this heightened level of rivalry has compressed overall returns for operators.
A Bitmain Antminer Z15 Pro, currently the premier hardware model for mining ZEC, produces an anticipated $708 in gross income per MWh of power consumed, as indicated by an analysis published by TheEnergyMag. The study asserts that this metric sits approximately 3% under the $727 per MWh recorded on August 24, a period when ZEC prices hovered below $900.
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Originally published at https://www.theblock.co/news/markets/2026-09-04-zcash-tops-1000-etf-inflows-ramp-up-miners-pile-in-413580.
