Grayscale Is Making Its Red-Hot Zcash ETF More Affordable

Grayscale's Zcash ETF is so hot right now, they are making shares 300% more accessible to retailers.

The fund, ticker ZCSH, filed to carry out a 3-for-1 forward share split on Friday, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Shareholders of record at the close of trading on Sept. 28 will receive two extra shares for every one they already hold.

A forward split doesn't change what your investment is worth. It just slices each share into smaller pieces, the same way a $20 bill can become four $5 bills without changing the total in your wallet. Grayscale's own example: 10 shares worth $300 each, or $3,000 total, become 30 shares worth $100 each---still $3,000.

Why is Grayscale doing this you ask? In a nutshell, Zcash got so expensive so fast, the coin rising more than 2,800% in the last year, that the ETF share is too high per unit. You can buy a fraction of a token on your favorite crypto exchange, but you cannot buy a fraction of a stock on your favorite broker. This is why splits exist.

"The Forward Split is expected to decrease the price per share of the Fund with a proportionate increase in the number of Shares outstanding," Grayscale says on the form. "As a result of the Forward Split, holders as of the Record Date will receive two additional Shares, to be distributed on the Payment Date."

"Immediately following the Forward Split, the NAV per Share is expected to be approximately one-third of the NAV per Share immediately before the Forward Split."

The new shares get paid out after market close on Sept. 29. Split-adjusted trading starts before the market opens on Sept. 30, still under the ticker ZCSH, with the same CUSIP number, the code that identifies the security to brokers and clearinghouses.

The move follows a month of investors piling into the fund. ZCSH has pulled in more than $233 million since it started trading on Aug. 25, including a $46.6 million day this week and a single $112 million day on Sept. 8. Net assets sat around $890 million as of Sept. 17.

ZCSH is the world's first spot exchange-traded fund to hold Zcash's token, ZEC, directly. It was born from a straight conversion of Grayscale's older Zcash Trust, which already held roughly $313 million in ZEC by the time it started trading on NYSE Arca.

Zcash lets people choose whether their transactions are public or hidden, using cryptography called zk-SNARKs---a method that proves a payment is valid without showing who sent it, who received it, or how much moved. Like Bitcoin, its supply is capped at 21 million coins.

That matters beyond crypto circles. ZEC has ripped higher this year as worries grow about how easily digital money can be tracked, and wrapping a privacy coin in a regulated ETF---the same kind of product that holds ordinary stocks in a 401(k)---hands that trade to anyone with a brokerage account, not just people who already own a crypto wallet.

The coin is also more regulatory friendly than other options like Monero, ticker XMR, which have been even banned by major exchanges after pressure from law enforcement agencies.

Grayscale has split shares before for the same reason it's splitting them now. It cut its Ethereum Trust 9-for-1 in December 2020 once ETH's climb had pushed individual shares out of reach for smaller investors. ZEC's own rally has done the same thing to ZCSH.

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