Zcash has achieved a significant milestone, crossing $800 for the first time since January 2018, with the token reaching an intraday high of $885 before settling around $820. This represents a dramatic 70% surge over the past week, making ZEC the top gainer among the 100 largest cryptocurrencies. The rally comes as Grayscale advances its proposed Zcash ETF conversion, having filed its fifth amended registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The filing sets the annual fee at 2.5% of the NAV Fee Basis Amount, which will accrue daily, and establishes the trust's name as The Zcash ETF. Grayscale has pledged to direct 100% of the fee toward marketing and development for up to 12 months, though this commitment is voluntary. According to the latest filing, shares were anticipated to begin trading on or around August 25, subject to regulatory approvals.
The latest price action has brought ZEC close to the $875 resistance level, which previously stopped the price from moving higher. ZEC reached highs of $885 during the current session before pulling back, with the daily candle falling approximately 4% from an opening near $854 to $820. The rally accelerated after ZEC cleared $562.50, which marked the upper boundary of its previous trading range on the daily chart. Buyers then pushed through successive levels at $625, $687.50, and $750. On the 4-hour chart, ZEC remains above the Bollinger Bands' middle line near $803.35, with the Relative Strength Index falling to 62.89 after previously moving into overbought territory. The first upside barrier sits between $870 and $875, with the daily Murrey Math chart marking $875 as an extreme overshoot level. A decisive close above $875 could allow buyers to test $910 and then $937.50, while on the downside, $812.50 is the first key level to monitor.
According to the latest fifth amended registration statement filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Grayscale has finalized key details for its proposed Zcash ETF conversion. The filing reveals that the company wants to move the trust from the OTCQX market to NYSE Arca under the existing ZCSH ticker, with the proposed structure allowing the trust to issue shares continuously. The registration statement discloses non-binding discussions involving DCG International Investments Ltd., a Digital Currency Group subsidiary, under which the company could contribute approximately 200,000 ZEC to the trust in exchange for shares. At the valuation cited when the amendment was reported, the proposed contribution was worth approximately $110 million. The trust held approximately 388,674 ZEC at the end of June, making the proposed contribution substantial relative to existing holdings. Coinbase Custody Trust Company will hold the trust's tokens, while Bank of New York Mellon serves as transfer agent and administrator. The filing also disclosed that Grayscale reported the trust had about $263.5 million in assets under management as of August 21.
A separate Zcash-specific event may have added demand for shielded ZEC ahead of the rally. According to the NU7 vote announcement on the Zcash Community Forum, Valar Group and Project Tachyon scheduled an approximately 18-day coinholder vote beginning August 25. Voting eligibility was based on spendable, shielded ZEC held in the Ironwood pool at mainnet block height 3,459,350, with the snapshot expected at approximately 19:00 UTC on August 24. The snapshot may have encouraged some holders to transfer tokens into the Ironwood shielded pool, but available data does not establish how much of the price increase came directly from voting-related transfers. Voting is scheduled to close on September 14 at 19:00 UTC, with the process requiring at least 1 million eligible ZEC to meet its minimum participation threshold. The ballot will help determine the scope of the planned NU7 network upgrade, including possible changes to Zcash's issuance schedule and block-production model.
The current rally has been driven by aggressive buying activity and derivatives trading, with futures turnover reaching $5.77 billion and Open Interest growing to approximately $1.8 billion. As leverage equaled 13% of market cap, speculative positioning became the main driver of the upward surge. However, exchange netflows showed no sustained accumulation or distribution, pointing instead to rapid two-way trading. This derivatives-heavy structure has intensified price sensitivity, with ZEC maintaining an extremely high level of trading activity after the price surge. The participation increase strengthened liquidity, but the leveraged nature of the trading has created volatility. At press time, the RSI had dropped to 69.88, indicating that overbought momentum was beginning to normalize rather than collapsing, while the MACD was still trending upwards but with a narrowing histogram showing cooling momentum. CoinGlass' 24-hour liquidation heatmap showed concentrated leveraged positions on both sides of ZEC's market price, with the largest upside liquidity cluster appearing around $872 to $874 and strong concentration below at $818 to $820.
