Zcash Gains 10% After SEC Closes Probe; Foundation Holds $36.7M

Zcash (ZEC) traded near $580 after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission closed its review of the Zcash Foundation and the nonprofit released its Q1 2026 report. The token gained nearly 10% over 24 hours.

The SEC informed Foundation leadership that it does not intend to recommend enforcement action. The probe began on Aug. 31, 2023, when SEC staff served the Foundation with a subpoena in the case designated SF-04569. The agency communicated the closure in January. Foundation officials reported full cooperation; the outcome carries no penalties, fines or required changes.

The Q1 filing showed roughly $36.7 million in liquid holdings at the end of March. ZEC accounted for about 58.6% of the balance. The Foundation also held bitcoin, U.S. dollar reserves and a small ether position. Average monthly operating expenses were about $272,500, and the report stated the cash position provides a multi-year runway to fund engineering work.

The filing noted that network operations continued: blocks settled, transactions cleared normally, and user privacy remained intact. Engineering teams shipped multiple Zebra node releases and advanced the Z3 stack. The Foundation reported progress on FROST multi-party signing and work toward NU7, the next planned network upgrade.

Institutional flows returned to the privacy token sector earlier in 2026, and market interest in privacy-focused tokens has increased. The SEC closure of the Foundation probe follows a pattern of crypto-related reviews closed without charges since 2025, including inquiries involving Aave, OpenSea, Robinhood, Gemini and Ondo. Grayscale identified Zcash as one of its preferred private-asset names, which drew attention from larger allocators.

Earlier in 2026, staff departures at Electric Coin Company and a governance dispute led many ECC contributors to leave. The Foundation’s report highlighted continued engineering output despite those personnel changes.

Traders and allocators plan to monitor the timing of the NU7 upgrade and how the Foundation manages spending, and whether the SEC’s reduced enforcement activity in crypto continues into the next rulemaking cycle.

In its Q1 report the Foundation wrote: “We are pleased to announce that the SEC has concluded its review and informed us that it does not intend to recommend any enforcement action or other changes against Zcash Foundation regarding this matter.”