CoinShares picked a symbolic date to bring its new Zcash exchange-traded product to market. October 28 marks the tenth anniversary of Zcash's creation. The launch of ZCSH, a fully physically backed ETP listed on Euronext Paris, did not go as smoothly as the firm might have hoped: the exchange suspended trading at 9am, right at market open, and did not say why.
Trading resumed three hours later, at midday, with no public explanation at the time from either Euronext or CoinShares. Cointelegraph, which broke the story, later obtained a comment from Euronext spokesperson Flavio Bornancin-Tomasella, who said the central securities depository had not been ready to ensure "standard settlement operations". Euronext did not name the depository. In Paris, that role is held by Euroclear France. Settlement of traded securities normally takes place two business days after a trade, a process known as T+2.
CoinShares had not responded to Cointelegraph's questions by the time of writing. The firm's press release announcing ZCSH was dated from Jersey, where the product's ISIN code also originates: like other CoinShares offerings, it begins with the prefix GB.
A gateway product, at a price
ZCSH carries an annual management fee of 1.50%, considerably higher than CoinShares' physical Bitcoin ETP, which charges 0.15%. Jean-Marie Mognetti, the head of CoinShares, framed the launch in terms of accessibility rather than cost. "ZCSH is this gateway to ZEC. One security, one code, on an exchange investors already use," he said.
By late afternoon, once trading had resumed, buy offers for ZCSH stood at around €6.85. Zcash itself was trading near $1,300, up roughly 4% on the day.
A crowded corner of the ETP market
ZCSH is, by Cointelegraph's count, the fourth Zcash ETP to reach the European market, following products from 21Shares, Virtune and Valour. 21Shares listed its own Zcash ETP in Paris and Amsterdam on September 22, charging an annual fee of 2.50%. With CoinShares' arrival, two Zcash ETPs are now listed in Paris, giving investors a choice between the 1.50% and 2.50% fee levels. In the United States, Grayscale offers a Zcash ETF on NYSE Arca.
The suspension leaves open questions that neither Euronext nor CoinShares have addressed: what exactly went wrong with the settlement chain, and what was corrected in the three hours before trading resumed. For a product built around the promise of giving investors simple, regulated access to Zcash through a familiar exchange, the opening-day disruption was an awkward start.
