Zcash (ZEC) rose nearly 13% over 24 hours on August 21, 2026, trading in the $650–$660 range as of 1:00 PM UTC and printing an intraday high of $663, with CoinGecko showing roughly $635 and a 13.2% gain. Market capitalization hovered near $10.8 billion, placing ZEC among leading privacy coins and roughly in the top 11–15 cryptocurrencies, while weekly gains stood near 35% in a recovery from the June 2026 Orchard shielded-pool sell-off. Momentum followed Grayscale’s August 18 Amendment No. 4 to its S-3 registration, advancing plans to list the Zcash Trust on NYSE Arca under ticker ZCSH and disclosing nonbinding discussions for DCG International Investments Ltd. to contribute about 200,000 ZEC—roughly $111 million near $555 filing-period prices—in exchange for shares, with no binding agreement in place. Separately, Grayscale’s August 20 research note argued that Zcash’s sender-, receiver-, and amount-obscuring private transactions may become more essential amid AI-powered financial surveillance, citing shielded transactions near 90% of count and shielded supply of about 4.2 million ZEC as of July 20, 2026. Cypherpunk Technologies has expanded mining and treasury exposure, with reports of around 18% of network hashrate, while the late-July Ironwood upgrade and related integrity work have supported confidence; $700 remains roughly 8–12% above recent levels as a watched resistance zone.