Zcash ETF Outraised Bitcoin and Ethereum Last Week

Zcash spot ETFs drew $98.2 million in the week ending September 18, beating both Bitcoin and Ethereum funds as Ethereum logged the only outflow.

Zcash (ZEC) spot exchange-traded funds took in $98.2 million in the week ending September 18, the largest net inflow among 14 spot crypto ETF products, according to BeInCrypto data reported via Mitrade. Neither Bitcoin nor Ethereum funds came close: Bitcoin ETFs finished the week with roughly $6.2 million in net inflows, while Ethereum products posted the category's only outflow at $140 million. The result is striking because Zcash is a privacy coin, a subgenre long treated as toxic by regulated US fund products.

BeInCrypto, via Mitrade, reports the Zcash ETF has now logged four consecutive positive weeks since launching in late August, accumulating $271 million in total. Assets jumped 40.5% last week to $914.5 million, making Zcash the third-largest altcoin ETF product — behind only XRP and Solana, and ahead of nine others. For a privacy coin, that is a pace of institutional adoption almost nobody forecast when the fund debuted weeks ago.

The weekly totals mask a bruising round trip. Per BeInCrypto via Mitrade, Bitcoin ETFs opened the week with $160.04 million on Monday, then lost $450.33 million on Tuesday after the Senate rejected cloture on the Digital Asset Market CLARITY Act by 49-50 — the industry's worst single session since late June, according to CryptoPotato. Wednesday brought the Fed's first rate hike since 2023, a 25-basis-point move to 3.75%-4%, and another $295.98 million out of Bitcoin funds and $224.11 million out of Ethereum funds. Bitcoin recovered with $433.03 million on Friday to end the week barely positive; Ethereum's outflows ran three straight sessions, and even a $143.80 million Friday could not close the gap.

CryptoSlate reports that Friday's $433 million Bitcoin ETF inflow was led by Fidelity, whose FBTC supplied $310.7 million — nearly 2.9 times the $108.4 million added by BlackRock's IBIT. Bitwise's BITB, ARK 21Shares' ARKB, and VanEck's HODL also posted smaller positive flows, broadening participation beyond the two largest funds. Even so, CryptoSlate notes the two-day rebound of $592.5 million still left a $153.8 million gap against the $746.3 million withdrawn Tuesday and Wednesday, and the five-session week finished with just $6.1 million in net inflows. BlackRock also remained the larger net beneficiary over the full week at $120.6 million to FBTC's $79.9 million.

The surprise is not just that ZEC raised the most money — it is what the flows say about what institutions will hold. By comparison, Solana's celebrated 12-week inflow streak added just $13.2 million last week on Mitrade's figures, and XRP took in $9.6 million. Meanwhile, TradingView reports Bitcoin ETF trading volume sank to its lowest full five-session weekly total since October 2024. Capital is rotating into the newest, most niche product while the flagship market goes quiet.

Net flows across all 14 spot crypto ETF products totaled negative $5 million last week even as combined assets rose 4.89% to $123.9 billion, per BeInCrypto via Mitrade — a divergence that leaves the direction of the market genuinely unresolved. BeInCrypto frames the open question plainly: whether buyers chase the rebound or keep sitting it out should show in next week's figures. Watch three things: whether Zcash's four-week streak survives its first real test of profit-taking near $1,500, whether Fidelity and the smaller issuers keep contributing alongside BlackRock — which CryptoSlate says a single session cannot establish — and whether the CLARITY Act returns to the Senate calendar, since its failed 49-50 vote set off the week's largest outflows.