The post Regulated privacy, or privacy in name only? appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com.

A privacy coin is headed for Wall Street, and the wrapper says everything about what happens when a technology built for discretion tries to move through the most surveilled pipes in global finance. Grayscale’s bid to list a Zcash ETF on NYSE Arca (ticker ZCSH) marks the first serious attempt to wrap a privacy coin in the fully documented world of ETF filings, approved custodians, sanctions screening, and brokerage compliance. The entire project is set up like a stress test for a simple idea: can regulated privacy exist, or does the regulation part smother the privacy part on contact? The mechanics described in the S-3 are straightforward, with cash creations at launch, and potential in-kind redemptions down the line, but the cultural and technical baggage Zcash carries is anything but. After starting 2025 near $30 following a long period of dormancy, ZEC spent the first half of the year grinding between $40 and $55, barely noticed outside its core community. Then the market snapped, and by November, ZEC had erupted to $699, marking one of the most dramatic rallies of any major crypto asset this year. Such a dramatic spike (+730% YTD) put privacy coins to the forefront of institutional interest and is what’s pushing investors to chase it with size. Zcash was built to give users a choice between transparent addresses and shielded ones, using zk-SNARKs to prove validity without disclosing details. An ETF has no such spectrum. It has administrators, custodians, AP desks, and regulated venues. And because nothing in the ETF world moves without a verified identity attached, the first Zcash ETF could operate in a universe where everything is compliant, everything is screened, and none of that tells you much about the privacy that originally made ZEC matter. The tension comes from how the ETF is…

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Filed under: News - @ November 30, 2025 12:02 am