Grayscale's Zcash ETF Passes $500M With $100M From a DCG Affiliate

Grayscale said on Monday that its Zcash ETF holds more than $500 million, two weeks after the fund started trading on NYSE Arca. About $100 million of that came from DCG International Investments, a subsidiary of the group that owns the fund's sponsor, which took ZCSH shares in exchange for 85,705.32563297 ZEC. Everyone else put in more than $70 million over the same fortnight, on the sponsor's own accounting. Options on ZCSH began trading the same day. The release gives no exact assets figure.

Where the money came from

A fifth of the fund belongs to an affiliate. Bitcoin.com News read the contribution out of an SEC Form 8-K and put it at that share, while noting the swap of coins for shares is an ordinary creation mechanism and nothing improper. It still changes what the headline number measures. Money arriving from the sponsor's own corporate family is weaker evidence of outside appetite than money arriving from a brokerage account, and Grayscale's release states both legs without separating them in its title.

"The latest AUM milestone includes ZCSH seeing cumulative inflows of more than $70 million in the two weeks since launching as an ETP, in addition to the Investor's $100 million investment," said Steve Vanourny, Grayscale's head of index.

A plan that landed lighter

The contribution was flagged in August and it arrived smaller than advertised. The Block reported on 19 August that Grayscale's fourth amendment disclosed DCG International Investments weighing roughly 200,000 ZEC, about $110 million at the prices of that day, with the filing cautioning that "these discussions are not binding agreements or commitments to purchase, the Potential Investor could determine to purchase more, fewer or no Shares." This site carried the plan on 22 August as a single-outlet claim and again on 25 August, when TechTimes valued the same 200,000 coins at roughly $169 million and about 34% of the enlarged fund. Those two valuations are snapshots at different ZEC prices, and neither names the price it used. What arrived is 85,705 coins, near 43% of the quantity discussed. That share is our arithmetic and not an outlet's.

Five prints of one fund's assets

The series has never lined up. At the 25 August listing, assets read as about $304 million at crypto.news and $313.5 million at Cryptopolitan, while BeInCrypto gave about $260 million at conversion. CryptoSlate had $414.7 million on 3 September, days before ZEC cleared $1,200 with futures open interest past $2 billion. Cointelegraph and BeInCrypto both had $463.2 million on Friday. Monday's release says only "more than $500 million", which is a floor and not a print. Friday's $463.2 million plus a $100 million contribution already clears that floor before any inflow or any move in the coin, and ZEC rose over the stretch. The check is ours. The exact figure is not on the record.

Two inflow tallies, four days apart

The Block counted $34.4 million of net inflows since listing when it wrote on 4 September, the strongest day being 2 September at $12.6 million, and Cryptonomist carried the same pair two days later. Grayscale's more than $70 million covers the two weeks to 8 September. The two measure the same thing over overlapping windows, the release does not reference the earlier tally, and no outlet reconciles them. The fund listed at a 2.5% sponsor fee and remains the only exchange-traded product anywhere with direct spot exposure to ZEC, which is Grayscale's own claim about its own product.

ZEC changed hands at $1,201.42 early on Wednesday, up 6.4% on the day, in CoinGabbar's morning roundup, with bitcoin at $78,893.77 and the whole market at $2.78 trillion. CoinDesk put the weekly gain near 43% on Wednesday; Cointelegraph had 45% on Monday after a high of $1,249.28. Neither carries the other's number. The next fund disclosure covers the days after the options listing, and that is the document that shows whether outside money kept arriving once the affiliate's coins were in.