Horizen Inclusion in Grayscale Sector Framework Reflects Institutional Interest in Smart Contract Platforms

Grayscale Investments has included Horizen (ZEN) in its Smart Contract Platforms sector, underscoring the token's recognition as part of a foundational layer for decentralized applications. This categorization is part of Grayscale's broader effort to organize and standardize the crypto asset class for institutional investors. The inclusion of ZEN alongside major layer-1 networks like Ethereum and Solana suggests a strategic alignment with projects that enable programmable money and decentralized application deployment.

The firm's sector framework is designed to map tokens to functional use cases and investable exposures. For Smart Contract Platforms, this includes networks that support self-executing contracts and decentralized application development. ZEN's inclusion in this category indicates that Grayscale views the project as a relevant player in the evolution of decentralized infrastructure, despite its smaller market capitalization compared to other entries in the sector.