Zcash and Monero finish August up, the privacy coin sector lying in wait

Privacy-focused cryptos widely outperformed the market in August. Zcash (ZEC) climbed 82%, driven by the launch of Grayscale’s spot ZCSH ETF on NYSE Arca. Monero (XMR), on the other hand, rose 40%, thanks to the arrival of native swaps on THORChain v3.20. And the momentum does not stop there: several more discreet privacy coins are also benefiting, even though regulatory pressure remains strong. 

In brief

Zcash, Grayscale’s accelerator boost

ZEC’s surge peaked during the last week of August, but the movement had started well before the ETF listing. The token’s return to its 2018 levels had laid the foundations. 

Then, on August 25, Grayscale finalized the conversion: ZCSH thus becomes the very first listed product to offer direct exposure to ZEC. The fund is backed by about 304 million dollars worth of ZEC held at Coinbase Custody, for an annual fee of 2.5%.