Zcash Foundation in the Clear: SEC Ends Years-Long Probe With No Enforcement Action
The Zcash Foundation stated this week {that a} years-long investigation by the US Securities and Exchange Commission has ended with none enforcement motion, bringing regulatory readability to certainly one of the crypto business’s most carefully watched privateness tasks at a time of heightened volatility for the token.
In a discover revealed Wednesday, the basis confirmed that the SEC had “concluded its evaluate” of an inquiry tied to “sure crypto asset choices.”
We are happy to announce that the SEC has concluded its evaluate and knowledgeable us that it doesn’t intend to advocate any enforcement motion or different modifications towards Zcash Foundation relating to this matter. https://t.co/zjxfh3mmst
— Zcash Foundation
(@ZcashFoundation) January 14, 2026
The probe started in August 2023, when the basis acquired a subpoena as a part of a broader SEC effort to evaluate whether or not particular digital asset choices fell below federal securities legal guidelines.
The case was internally designated SF-04569 and remained open for greater than two years.
Zcash’s Privacy Model Back in Spotlight After SEC Review Closes
The basis stated the end result mirrored its cooperation all through the course of and its concentrate on working inside current regulatory necessities.
It added that its work would stay centered on advancing privacy-preserving monetary infrastructure. The SEC didn’t challenge a public assertion on the matter, however the basis stated it had acquired affirmation that the evaluate was formally closed.
The choice comes amid renewed market exercise round Zcash, with ZEC trading round $439 on Wednesday, up roughly 13% over the most up-to-date buying and selling interval, with 24-hour buying and selling quantity climbing greater than 30% to about $881 million.
Despite the rebound, the token stays far beneath its early-cycle peak, buying and selling greater than 86% below its all-time high of $3,191 set throughout the 2017 bull market.
One of the most prevalent elements of privacy-oriented cryptocurrency has all the time been the regulatory oversight of such initiatives, which have been primarily based on cryptographic options to hide the info on transactions and stay purposeful in the open blockchain.
Zcash was launched in 2016, and it makes use of zero-knowledge proofs to allow customers to transact shielded transactions with out the details about the sender, receiver, or quantity being disclosed.
That design has put it in the center of a number of discussions on monetary surveillance, compliance, and the boundaries of privateness on-chain many occasions.
SEC’s Zcash Decision Mirrors Evolving U.S. Regulatory Playbook
The SEC’s evaluate of the Zcash Foundation unfolded alongside different inquiries touching the ecosystem.
In previous correspondence, the company sought evaluation from Grayscale Investments on whether or not ZEC may very well be categorized as a safety in the context of its Zcash Trust.
SEC officers have additionally engaged instantly with Zcash founder Zooko Wilcox, together with participation in roundtable discussions on privateness applied sciences and regulatory oversight.
The closure of the Zcash probe additionally suits right into a broader shift in US crypto enforcement since 2025.
Under new management and following the appointment of Paul Atkins as SEC chair, the company has dropped or settled a string of high-profile instances launched throughout the prior administration.
Lawsuits towards Coinbase and Kraken were dismissed without penalties, investigations into Robinhood’s crypto unit, Uniswap Labs, OpenSea, and Gemini were closed, and a multi-year inquiry into Ondo Finance ended with out fees late final 12 months.
While the SEC has continued to pursue instances involving alleged fraud, the sample has pointed towards a pullback from expansive enforcement actions tied to token classification alone.
The finish of the SEC probe arrives throughout a turbulent second internally for Zcash, as final week, governance disputes between the Electric Coin Company and the nonprofit Bootstrap escalated right into a public break up, with core builders leaving to kind a brand new impartial entity.
@ Zcash Split Update: $ZEC slides 16% as Bootstrap blames nonprofit guidelines, not mission misalignment, or the break up#Zcash #BlockchainGovernancehttps://t.co/62gTfuz4lx
— Cryptonews.com (@cryptonews) January 8, 2026
That episode briefly weighed on market sentiment, at the same time as community operations continued uninterrupted and undertaking leaders burdened that the battle didn’t have an effect on Zcash’s underlying safety or privateness ensures.
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