EL7.AI
CryptoMedium•23 October 2026•
4 min read

Zcash Mining Expands as Fund Inflows Top $233 Million Since August

Key Facts

1Net inflows to ZCSH exceeded $233 million from its launch on August 25 through a September 18 report.
2Zcash’s estimated network computing power rose from about 25 to nearly 32 gigasols per second, with mining difficulty at about 291 million.
3Cypherpunk announced a $33.33 million stock deal for a mining fleet with capacity of 4.2 gigasols per second, estimated at about 18% of the network at the time of the announcement.
4ZEC closed at $1,315.75 on October 21, then at $1,226.12 on October 23.
5The NU7 upgrade aims to reduce block time from 75 seconds to 25 seconds, with a target mainnet date of November 5.

Net inflows to Grayscale’s ZCSH fund have topped $233 million since its launch on August 25, according to a report published by The Block on September 18. This coincided with an expansion in Zcash mining activity, although available data do not establish that early Bitcoin investors drove the currency’s rise or that fund inflows caused it. Price records show ZEC closed at $1,148.83 on October 16, then reached $1,315.75 on October 21. It fell to $1,219.19 on October 22 before rising to $1,226.12 on October 23. The move shows the price retreating from its closing peak during the period, with a limited recovery the following day.

On the fund’s trajectory, ZCSH recorded net inflows of about $34.4 million from its launch through September 3, according to another report by The Block. Its strongest recorded inflow day through that date was September 2, when it attracted $12.6 million. On September 8, Grayscale said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that the fund’s assets had exceeded $500 million two weeks after launch. The company attributed this to cumulative inflows of more than $70 million over the two weeks, alongside the investor’s $100 million investment. A separate filing said shares of the Grayscale Zcash Trust were expected to begin trading on NYSE Arca on August 25 under the ticker ZCSH, subject to regulatory approval. Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss said investors had limited options for gaining exposure to Zcash mining before Cypherpunk Technologies acquired the mining fleet, adding: "Until now, investors’ options for gaining exposure to Zcash mining have been limited. With the acquisition of the mining fleet, Cypherpunk is changing that."

Cypherpunk Technologies announced on August 18 the launch of a Zcash mining fleet through a $33.33 million stock deal with Winklevoss Capital. The company said the fleet had deployed computing power of 4.2 gigasols per second, which it estimated represented about 18% of the network at the time of the announcement. It added that the fleet produced 3,023.13 ZEC in mining rewards from August 18 to 31, and that it added all the rewards to the company treasury. According to The Block, the network’s estimated computing power rose from about 25 gigasols per second in late August to nearly 32 gigasols per second in September. Mining difficulty rose in parallel to about 291 million, signaling intensifying competition to process blocks. Growth in the fleet and network offers a picture of mining expansion, but does not by itself establish that this expansion caused the price move.

Mining economics data show that increased competition coincided with a decline in the estimated gross revenue of the Bitmain Antminer Z15 Pro. The estimate was $708 per megawatt-hour on September 4, down about 3% from $727 on August 24, according to an analysis cited by The Block from TheEnergyMag. The decline came despite a rise in ZEC, underscoring that an increase in the currency’s price does not guarantee better returns per unit of mining capacity when network conditions change. Zcash, meanwhile, enables transparent or private transactions, allowing sender, recipient and amount information to be concealed while retaining the ability to verify transactions on the network, according to the fund’s filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. This functionality provides context for investor interest in the asset, while fund, mining and price performance remain separate tracks that do not on their own establish a causal relationship.

On issuance rules, ZEC holders voted in September by 2,375,932 ZEC to 22,385 ZEC to retain the four-year halving, according to CoinDesk Research. The vote sets the continuation of a preannounced schedule for reducing currency issuance, while its effect on price remains undetermined in the data presented here. The nearest technical change is the NU7 upgrade, which entered the test network on October 4 ahead of its target launch on the mainnet on November 5. The upgrade aims to reduce block time from 75 seconds to 25 seconds. CoinDesk Research reported that both Zakura and Zebra support the upgrade, and that testing Zakura across 80 nodes in 11 regions resulted in the rejection of slightly more than 3% of blocks. November 5 remains the target date for the mainnet, while the test results illustrate part of the ongoing validation ahead of the transition.