Is the XRP ETF worth 1.6 billion but getting cold? Zcash's first month break of $1 billion draws attention

According to Woofun AI, Ripple-related ETFs and Zaka Coin ETFs showed a marked contrast in financial performance: the former had a huge overall size but was diluted by leading institutions' shares, while the latter quickly seized the market focus with explosive growth in the early stages of listing.

The XRP ETF sector is currently dominated by Bitwise (NYSE: XRP), Franklin (NYSE: XRPZ), and Canary (NASDAQ: XRPC), which hold the highest percentage of assets. In contrast, the XRP fund of Grayscale (GBTC.US parent company Digital Currency Group) lags behind, with assets accounting for only 5.8% of the total assets in this category, which is even less than the $1 billion capital raised by ZCSH in the first month of listing.

This gap is not due to a lack of initial interest, but to large-scale redemptions earlier this year. The assets of $98.39 million were redeemed in a single day, resulting in a net outflow across the XRP ETF category on the same day. According to documents submitted by Grayscale to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, after being affected in the first half of 2026, the size of GXRP assets gradually recovered, and Maketo estimates that the number of Ripple tokens it holds as of October 7 is about 65 million.

According to data compiled by Woofun AI, as of October 7, the total assets of the five ETFs tracking Ripple's performance totaled about US$1.61 billion.

Investor portraits reveal differences in demand structures. Bloomberg intelligence analyst Eric Balchunas pointed out earlier this year that investors buying XRP ETFs are 'mostly fans who are extremely obsessed with Ripple, not ordinary retail investors'.

This means that net capital inflows are mainly driven by loyal holders rather than Wall Street financial institutions, which is a critical test for the long-term sustainability of demand. Looking at Zcash, on the other hand, according to Grayscale's September 8 announcement, its Zcash ETF surpassed the $1 billion mark in assets within 30 days of listing, and is already in the top 1% of all ETFs launched in the past ten years based on the amount of capital raised in the first month of listing. In the first two weeks, the fund's assets reached $500 million, which was accompanied by a net inflow of approximately $70 million.

Additionally, an agency linked to DCG invested approximately $100 million to purchase the fund's ZEC share through publicly disclosed related-party transactions.

Notably, Zcash's total assets of $1 billion include the increase in value brought about by rising token prices, not simply an injection of new external funds. As the market fluctuated, ZCSH's asset size had dropped to approximately $767 million by October 7. As of the same date, the total assets of the five ETFs tracking Ripple's performance totaled around $1.61 billion.

Despite the short-term downsizing of Zcash, its strong momentum at the beginning of its listing contrasts sharply with the XRP ETF inventory game, reflecting the divergence of market preferences for different crypto asset ETFs.