ProShares files a 2x Zcash ETF one day after Grayscale
ProShares Trust filed a 485APOS on Thursday, September 10, 2026, for Ultra Zcash ETF, a proposed 2x daily Zcash fund that elects effectiveness 75 days after filing.
Sixteen days after Grayscale listed a fund that holds Zcash, and one day after that firm registered a 2x version, ProShares Trust filed a preliminary prospectus for Ultra Zcash ETF. Two issuers now have daily 2x Zcash series in registration, built on different books. The ProShares paper would add a leveraged series to the same open-end trust that already lists 2x bitcoin, ether, Solana, and XRP funds. It would not buy the token. This is a preliminary prospectus: nothing can be sold until it is effective.
A daily 2x that would not buy Zcash
The fund "seeks daily investment results, before fees and expenses, that correspond to two times (2x) the daily performance of the [Zcash Index]." That Daily Target is for one day only. If the fund meets it, it should gain about twice as much as the index when the index rises on a given day, and lose about twice as much when the index falls.
It would not buy Zcash. The prospectus tells readers who want the coin itself to look elsewhere. Instead it would invest in financial instruments that, in combination, are meant to produce daily returns consistent with the Daily Target, and it would rebalance each day so that index exposure stays aligned with that target. Leveraged exposure would come in part through a wholly owned Cayman Islands subsidiary, ProShares Cayman Ultra Zcash, advised by ProShare Advisors. The filing discusses futures on a range of underlyings, including Zcash.
The Ultra compounding language is in the paper. For periods longer than a day, the prospectus says, a holder can lose money if the index is flat, and can lose money even if the index rises over that stretch. Grayscale's fund that holds Zcash, ZCSH, is not the still-blank index in that paper. It is the listed proxy for the coin, and this is the path it just printed.
From Thursday, September 3 through Thursday, ZCSH gained 19.6%, 7.6%, 9.5%, and 9.3%, then fell 10.2%.
ZCSH climbed four sessions, then dropped 10% Thursday
A fund that had hit a 2x daily target on each close would have gained about 80%. After the four up days that 2x book would have been up about 126%; Thursday's drop would have cut it by about 20% in a session.
Grayscale's 2.5% Zcash ETF, and ProShares' 2x fee ladder
ZCSH began trading on NYSE Arca on Tuesday, August 25. It is a spot product, not a 2x, and it charges 2.5%. Grayscale said assets had grown to more than $500 million as of Tuesday, September 8. It closed Thursday at $90.04, down 10.2%. Over the past month it was still up 157%. That gain ran through Grayscale's August 25 listing: Zcash was already climbing before the shares listed, and ZCSH kept rising after.
Grayscale Funds Trust has already asked the SEC to register a leveraged sibling. A 485APOS signed Wednesday, September 9, names The 2x Zcash ETF and says that fund would seek 2x the daily performance of ZEC, primarily through options on ZCSH and ZEC futures. Its ticker and exchange are blank. That paper, like ProShares', is a registration, not a listing. The two series would get there by different books: Grayscale through options on its own two-week-old ETP plus futures, ProShares through the Ultra derivatives-and-Cayman template it already uses for other coins.
ProShares' four listed 2x crypto funds hold $808 million combined. Fees are higher on the smaller funds. The Zcash paper does not pick a number.
Thursday's 485APOS
The filing is Post-Effective Amendment No. 578 under the Securities Act and Amendment No. 587 under the Investment Company Act, dated Thursday, September 10. The cover elects effectiveness 75 days after filing under Rule 485(a)(2), the clock used to add a new series to an already-effective N-1A registration. If a later amendment does not reset that clock, it would run to Tuesday, November 24. The 75-day clock is a filing mechanic, not a listing date.
The series is named ProShares Ultra Zcash ETF. The ticker prints as "[Ticker]" and the listing venue as "[Exchange]." A glossary names NYSE Arca, Nasdaq, and the BZX Exchange as possible exchanges. The management fee, other expenses, total annual fund operating expenses, and any waiver are all "[ ]."
A holder who wants Zcash already has ZCSH at 2.5%. What is in registration is a daily double of a still-unnamed index, with a fee that will be read against ProShares' own 0.98% to 2.14% schedule for 2x crypto. The papers describe a one-day target, not a way to own the coin.
Frequently asked
Would the ProShares fund hold Zcash?
No, it would use derivatives, partly through a wholly owned Cayman subsidiary, and the prospectus tells readers who want the coin to look elsewhere.
Can I buy it now?
No, it is a preliminary prospectus, and nothing can be sold until the registration is effective.
What does the fund cost?
The fee is left blank in the filing, alongside a ticker and exchange that also print as placeholders.
How is Grayscale's leveraged version different?
Grayscale's proposed 2x fund would use options on its own spot Zcash ETF plus Zcash futures, while ProShares would use its existing derivatives-and-Cayman template.