Euronext halts CoinShares’ Zcash ETP as Europe’s privacy coin crackdown looms

Euronext has pulled CoinShares’ new Zcash exchange-traded product from its Paris market. This was only hours after the issuer announced the launch, blocking what would have been the fourth Zcash fund to list in Europe this year.

While Euronext did not provide a reason for the removal in its initial statement, speculators are saying that it may not be unrelated to the upcoming deadline surrounding Zcash (ZEC) in Europe.

The European Union’s Anti-Money Laundering Regulation will stop licensed crypto firms from handling privacy coins such as ZEC from July 1, 2027.

What did Euronext say was the reason for the suspension?

While Euronext did not give any reason in its suspension notice, a company spokesperson later said it was more about the settlement plumbing than about regulation.

The spokesperson said that CoinShares Zcash ETP will remain frozen until ‘standard settlement operations can be fully supported by the Central Securities Depository (CSD).’

However, their notice came on Wednesday, October 28, just a few hours after CoinShares had announced the listing. In its press release, CoinShares stated that ZCSH is 100% backed by ZEC, adding that it trades in euros and comes with an annual fee of 1.50%.

CoinShares’ CEO Jean-Marie Mognetti said the company’s role is to “build the regulated route” to assets investors want.

A European shelf that is filling up fast

The suspension leaves CoinShares on the sidelines while its competitors trade. 21Shares, Virtune and Valor all brought Zcash ETPs to European markets earlier in 2026.

The 21Shares product, also called ZCASH, is physically backed, charges 2.50% a year, and holds its ZEC with custodians including Coinbase Custody, Anchorage Digital Bank and BitGo, per the issuer’s product page.

In the United States, Grayscale’s listed Zcash fund, which happens to share the ZCSH ticker, raked in $41.1 million in the week ending October 23, and it was its best week since mid-September.

As of late October, that fund held around $686 million in assets.

What is the July 2027 rule that the issuers are racing to beat?

At the European Anti-Financial Crime Summit that was held in 2025, Paschal Donohoe, who was then president of the Eurogroup, said that the bloc wants anti-money-laundering rules to reach “beyond the more traditional forms of financial transfer.”

The EU already has a regulation in place to bring into reality what Donohoe was saying, and it takes full effect by mid-2027. It is the Regulation (EU) 2024/1624, which was adopted on May 31, 2024, and it is the law driving the hurry.

Riccardo Spagni, who was one of the founding developers of the privacy platform Monero, said, “From 1 July 2027, EU-licensed exchanges and custodians will be barred from handling privacy coins such as Monero.”

Spagni called the regulation “lopsided toward surveillance.” The rules also bar providers from interacting with anonymous wallets.

Zcash is another crypto whose main pitch is privacy. However, unlike Monero, which hides every transaction by default, Zcash gives users the ability to choose between transparent and shielded transfers.

It also offers viewing keys that let a holder reveal details to an auditor or regulator. The option that comes with ZEC is one of the reasons the token keeps getting more listings on exchanges compared to Monero.

However, it is not yet known if it will satisfy Europe’s anti-money laundering regulations after July 1, 2027. It seems many firms are betting that it will.

ZEC currently trades around $1,273, down by around 1.8% in the past 24 hours. It has a market capitalization of over $21.5 billion. For most of the year, the token has been one of the best performers, having gone as high as $1,683.5 in late September.

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