Zcash (ZEC), the largest privacy coin, is up 21x over the past year, crossing $1,000 in September 2026 at a market capitalisation of roughly $17.9B. Once the move had everyone's attention, the questioZcash (ZEC), the largest privacy coin, is up 21x over the past year, crossing $1,000 in September 2026 at a market capitalisation of roughly $17.9B. Once the move had everyone's attention, the questio

Zcash Surges 21x in a Year: Which US Stocks Actually Stand to Benefit?

#Saham AS

2026/09/21 17:41

Zcash (ZEC), the largest privacy coin, is up 21x over the past year, crossing $1,000 in September 2026 at a market capitalisation of roughly $17.9B. Once the move had everyone's attention, the question that followed was which US-listed names benefit from it. The short answer first: exposure is not benefit. This piece verifies five of them one by one — Cypherpunk Technologies (CYPH), The Zcash ETF (ZCSH), Coinbase Global (COIN), Gemini Space Station (GEMI) and Robinhood Markets (HOOD) — and breaks their exposure into five channels you can actually check: holding ZEC directly, tracking the ZEC price through a product, listing ZEC spot, providing custody for a ZEC product, and a founder or shareholder link. Once checked, not one of the five holds three channels at once. The exposure comes from a different place in each case, and how far a coin move has to travel before it reaches company financials is nowhere near the same. Data in this article is based on disclosures as of September 18, 2026, and all times are UTC. No share prices or daily moves are quoted here — this piece covers what each business does and what it has publicly disclosed.

1. What actually changed for Zcash: not just the price, but who can buy it

Zcash launched in 2016 and uses zero-knowledge proofs so that transaction amounts and addresses can be hidden, while keeping a transparent address layer alongside. It is optional privacy, not mandatory privacy — a point that comes back repeatedly below.

What separates this run from earlier privacy-coin rallies is structural: the access changed.

1. On April 24, 2026, Robinhood listed ZEC spot nationwide in the US. It was the platform's first major crypto addition in over two years, and it came with a specific design: withdrawals are restricted to transparent t-addresses, with no withdrawals to shielded z-addresses, which keeps the listing inside anti-money-laundering requirements.

2. On August 25, 2026, The Zcash ETF (ZCSH) listed on NYSE Arca, the first privacy-coin spot ETF in the US. On September 8, 2026, the sponsor announced assets above $500M, including more than $70M of cumulative inflows in the two weeks since launch plus a $100M seed investment.

⚠️ Put together, those two things mean one thing: getting ZEC exposure used to require opening a crypto account, and now an ordinary brokerage account reaches it. That is a change in access. It is not a view on where the ZEC price goes, and this article does not offer one.

2. How the five sort out: five channels, and the most any one name holds is two

Unpack the phrase "linked to Zcash" and it is really five separate channels:

Holds ZEC directly — ZEC sits on the balance sheet or in the fund's holdings
A product tracks the ZEC price — the firm issues something with ZEC as its underlying
Lists ZEC spot trading — users can buy and sell ZEC there
Custody for a ZEC product — it safekeeps ZEC on someone else's behalf
Founder or shareholder link — a key figure publicly champions ZEC

What the check produced:

Name	Type	Channels it holds
Cypherpunk Technologies (CYPH)	digital asset treasury	holds directly, founder or shareholder link
The Zcash ETF (ZCSH)	spot ETF	holds directly, product tracks the price
Coinbase Global (COIN)	exchange and custody	lists spot, provides custody
Gemini Space Station (GEMI)	crypto exchange	lists spot, founder or shareholder link
Robinhood Markets (HOOD)	retail brokerage	lists spot

⚠️ This table is grouped by type of exposure. It is not a quality assessment and not a recommendation ranking. More channels does not mean a better name — it only says the exposure comes from somewhere different.

3. Direct holder 1: Cypherpunk Technologies (CYPH)

What the company does. CYPH was previously Leap Therapeutics, a cancer drug developer. In November 2025 it renamed itself Cypherpunk Technologies and changed direction, making Zcash its core asset and positioning itself as a privacy technology company with a ZEC digital asset treasury. The original oncology pipeline continues inside a subsidiary. Full-time headcount is 6 — a number that shows up again later.

Where the exposure comes from. On November 12, 2025, Winklevoss Capital — the family fund of Gemini co-founder Tyler Winklevoss — put in $58.9M. The company bought an initial 203,775 ZEC at around $245 a coin and set an explicit goal: 5% of Zcash's 21,000,000 total supply, or 1,050,000 coins.

Where the holdings stand. Per company announcements, quarterly filings and the company dashboard, the period-end path runs:

2025/11/12　203,775 ZEC (first purchase announced)
2025/11/18　233,645 ZEC (added)
2025/12/30　290,063 ZEC (company release)
2026/06/30　323,394 ZEC (Q2 period end)
2026/09/18　326,418 ZEC (company dashboard)

At 326,418 coins that is roughly 1.9% of circulating supply (about 16.86M ZEC). Against the company's own 1,050,000 goal it is roughly 31% of the way there.

Do not mix the two denominators: the 1.9% figure is against circulating supply, while the 5% goal is against the 21,000,000 total supply.

Third-party tracker figures are not used here. The public tracking page stops at 294,743 coins in March 2026, more than 30,000 below what the company itself has disclosed. This article follows company disclosure throughout.

What it looks like financially. Because ZEC sits on the balance sheet, the coin price becomes profit and loss directly: a $77.2M net loss in Q1 2026 as ZEC pulled back, then a $39.4M net profit in Q2 with diluted EPS of $0.18, driven by roughly $46M of unrealised gain as ZEC moved from $243.35 to $400.09. Cash at period end was $7.6M.

→ One company, two directions in six months. That is not an anomaly. It is what keeping coins on the balance sheet does.

→ R&D expense fell from $10.5M a year earlier to $0.2M while G&A rose from $1.8M to $4.5M — the cost structure has already moved from drug developer to asset manager.

The risk belongs in the same paragraph. On June 5, 2026, a counterfeiting vulnerability was found in Orchard, Zcash's shielded pool. An emergency network upgrade patched it and there was no evidence of exploitation, but the company's shares fell sharply that day. Its chief investment officer subsequently restated the 5% accumulation goal. Protocol-level technical risk reaches this kind of name directly, which is what most separates it from an ordinary listed company.

4. Direct holder 2: The Zcash ETF (ZCSH)

What it is. ZCSH was converted from the Grayscale Zcash Trust and listed on NYSE Arca on August 25, 2026. It is the first and currently the only privacy-coin spot ETF in the US. It is not a stock; it is an exchange-traded fund.

Where the exposure comes from. The fund holds ZEC against its shares and its net asset value follows the ZEC price directly — of the five, this is the most direct link.

Parameters worth knowing:

A 2.50% annual management fee, paid in ZEC. For comparison, a bitcoin spot ETF charges around 0.25% — ten times less. The fee accrues daily; holding the coin price flat, fees alone erode roughly 22% of share value over ten years.
Custodian: Coinbase Custody Trust Company. Prime broker: Coinbase Inc. Administrator and transfer agent: BNY Mellon. Authorised participants: Jane Street and Virtu.
Size: above $500M as announced on September 8, 2026.

The point that most needs stating plainly: the ZEC that ZCSH holds sits in transparent addresses, not shielded ones. That is a deliberate trade-off so the holdings can be audited and redemptions verified. The consequence is that buying this ETF gets you price exposure to ZEC, not Zcash's privacy functionality. Shielded transactions still require holding the coin yourself.

A common factual slip: the ticker GRAY does not belong to Grayscale right now. The sponsor's parent, Grayscale Investments, has filed an S-1 and plans to list on the NYSE under GRAY, but that listing has not happened. At present GRAY belongs to Graybug Vision, a biotech that has stopped trading. ZCSH is currently the only way to reach this line.

5. Platform businesses: Robinhood (HOOD), Coinbase (COIN), Gemini (GEMI)

What these three share: ZEC is one of the assets on their platform, not one of their assets.

Robinhood Markets (HOOD) | retail brokerage | 2,900 full-time employees

It runs a US retail investing gateway where stocks, ETFs, options, gold and crypto sit in one account. It listed ZEC spot nationwide on April 24, 2026 using the "withdrawals to transparent t-addresses only" design, which has since been read as a template for how a US fintech can handle a privacy coin. It holds one channel of the five — the simplest exposure here, and the thinnest.

Coinbase Global (COIN) | exchange and custody | 4,951 full-time employees

The largest regulated US crypto exchange, serving both retail and institutions and providing custody and developer infrastructure. It holds two channels: it lists ZEC spot, and it is the custodian for ZCSH (Coinbase Custody Trust safekeeps the fund's ZEC while Coinbase Inc. acts as prime broker). Where ZEC meets institutional money, it is present at both ends.

Gemini Space Station (GEMI) | crypto exchange | 650 full-time employees

Founded by the Winklevoss twins, listed on September 12, 2025, with Tyler Winklevoss as chief executive. It covers spot, perpetuals, custody, prediction markets and a crypto credit card. It lists ZEC, and it is also the source of the strongest bullish framing ZEC currently has: Tyler Winklevoss publicly describes ZEC as "encrypted bitcoin", with bitcoin as digital gold and ZEC as digital cash.

⚠️ One distinction here is easy to get wrong and must be kept straight: the investor in Cypherpunk is Winklevoss Capital, the family fund, not the listed company Gemini Space Station. GEMI's link to ZEC runs through the listing and the founder's public framing, not through the company's balance sheet. Writing it as "Gemini invested in a ZEC treasury company" is wrong.

One comparison in passing. Both filed under "Zcash exposure", CYPH is a 6-person company and COIN is a 4,951-person company. Headcount says nothing about quality. What it says is that these five are not the same kind of company at all, and one yardstick will not cover them.

6. One-minute concept: exposure is not benefit, and three routes carry it differently

When you see the phrase "exposure to X", the first thing to ask is: when the coin moves, how many layers does it pass through before it reaches this company's financial statements?

1. Direct holders (CYPH) — straight to the P&L.

The company keeps ZEC on its balance sheet, so the coin price becomes unrealised gain or loss directly. A $77.2M net loss in Q1 and a $39.4M net profit in Q2, one company, two directions in six months. Shortest path, largest swings.

2. Product trackers (ZCSH) — into size and fee.

The fund holds ZEC against its shares and earns a management fee, 2.50% a year against 0.25% on a bitcoin spot ETF. What decides the outcome is size and fee, not any single day's coin price.

3. Platform businesses (HOOD / COIN / GEMI) — diluted across hundreds of assets.

ZEC is one of several hundred tradable assets on the platform. Heavier privacy-coin volume does reach fee revenue, but it is averaged in with everything else. The most layers sit between the coin price and the financials, so this is the longest path.

The transferable test: next time any "X play" shows up, answer three sentences first — does this company hold it, does this company's product track it, or is it just one of the things this company sells. Answer those three and the strength of the exposure sorts itself out. You do not need anyone's ranking.

7. What is not on this list, and why that matters too

What got cut during verification says more about the edges of this theme than what stayed:

1. There is no US-listed miner that earns mainly from ZEC. Zcash uses the Equihash algorithm and is mined with dedicated ASICs, and that hash rate sits mostly with private miners. Checked name by name, no US-listed miner derives its main revenue from ZEC, so none is included. That is a name failing verification, not an omission.

2. Reliance Global Group (EZRA, formerly RELI) has a link, but disclosure is thin. It is an insurance brokerage and insurtech company that announced in November 2025 that it had moved all of its existing digital assets into ZEC, then added again on December 8. ⚠️ But the company has not disclosed how many coins it holds — that is the company not publishing, not our sources failing, and the two should not be conflated. Separately, on May 14, 2026 it carried out a 1-for-40 reverse stock split to regain compliance with the Nasdaq minimum bid price rule, and the ticker changed from RELI to EZRA at the same time. Thin disclosure plus a reverse split is why it sits outside the main list.

3. Grayscale Investments itself is not yet listed — see section 4.

Frequently asked questions

Q: If I buy the ZCSH ETF, am I using Zcash's privacy features?

A: No. The ZEC that ZCSH holds sits in transparent addresses, not shielded ones, by design, so that holdings can be audited and redemptions verified. What you get is price exposure to ZEC, not privacy functionality. Shielded transactions require holding the coin yourself.

Q: How much ZEC does Cypherpunk actually hold, and why do sites disagree?

A: Per the company dashboard, 326,418 coins as of September 18, 2026. The public tracking page stops at 294,743 coins in March 2026, more than 30,000 lower. This article follows company announcements, quarterly filings and the company dashboard throughout, and does not use third-party tracker figures.

Q: Did Gemini invest in the Zcash treasury company?

A: No. The investor was Winklevoss Capital, Tyler Winklevoss's family fund, not the listed company Gemini Space Station. GEMI's link to ZEC comes from listing ZEC spot and from the founder's public framing. It is not on the company's balance sheet.

Q: Which of the five has the strongest link to ZEC?

A: By channel, CYPH and ZCSH are direct holders and sit on the shortest path, while COIN, GEMI and HOOD are platform businesses where ZEC is one of several hundred assets and the effect is diluted most. ⚠️ But a stronger link does not mean a better buy — the shortest path also means the largest swings. This article describes the mechanism only. It ranks nothing and is not investment advice.

Q: Why does this article quote no share prices or daily moves?

A: Because it is a piece about understanding the companies, not about the tape. A single-day move is the fastest figure to go stale and the easiest one to read as a buy or sell signal. What is here — what each business does, which channel the exposure runs through, and what each has publicly disclosed — still holds a week or a month from now.

Q: Is the ticker GRAY Grayscale?

A: Not currently. Grayscale Investments has filed an S-1 and plans to list on the NYSE under GRAY, but that listing has not happened. GRAY at present belongs to Graybug Vision, a biotech that has stopped trading. ZCSH is currently the only route to Grayscale's Zcash product line.

Disclaimer: This article is compiled and written by the MEXC RealStocks team. The data in this article is based on public disclosures as of September 18, 2026, and no share prices or daily moves are quoted. The content is a compilation of public market information. Individual stocks and funds are publicly discussed targets, the list is grouped by type of exposure and is neither a quality assessment nor a recommendation ranking, and none of it represents the recommendation or opinion of MEXC or constitutes investment advice. Crypto assets and related securities carry significant volatility; please assess the risks yourself. More US stock content: @MEXC | @Alpha_MEXC | @MEXC_Research

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