Winklevoss Twins Double Down on Privacy With Spot Zcash ETF Pitch Ticker 'WINK' 🪞

Winklevoss Asset Services has filed an S-1 registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for a spot Zcash exchange-traded fund that would directly hold ZEC and seek to list on Nasdaq under the ticker WINK, according to the filing dated Oct. 6. The proposed Winklevoss Zcash ETF would use cash creation and redemption by authorized participants, with Winklevoss Asset Services purchasing ZEC to back newly created shares. The fund would charge an annual sponsor fee of 0.25%, hold no derivatives or leverage, and track the price of ZEC, the privacy-focused cryptocurrency that uses zero-knowledge proofs called zk-SNARKs to shield sender, recipient and amount data.

Gemini Trust Company, the crypto exchange operated by founders Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, would serve as custodian and store the trust's ZEC in cold storage. Cypherpunk Technologies, the Winklevoss-backed Zcash treasury company, has been named the fund's "Zcash Ecosystem Partner" to advise on protocol matters and coinholder voting. Winklevoss Capital Fund, through one or more affiliates, has indicated an interest in purchasing up to $100 million of shares in the offering, though the filing characterizes that commitment as non-binding.

The filing details a series of risk factors specific to privacy coins, including the soundness bug discovered earlier this year in Zcash's Orchard shielded pool that briefly pushed ZEC down roughly 50% before the Ironwood upgrade patched the network. It also flags ZEC's price volatility as a core concern for prospective shareholders. The SEC must greenlight the registration statement before the fund can begin trading on Nasdaq.

The proposal lands as Zcash has rallied more than 735% over the past year, lifting its market capitalization to roughly $23 billion and placing it among the 10 largest cryptocurrencies by market value, according to CoinGecko data. ZEC was trading at approximately $1,354 on Tuesday and rose over 5% in the past 24 hours to about $1,376, with traders citing the upcoming NU7 mainnet decision scheduled for Oct. 20.

A WINK listing would add the Winklevoss brand to a growing roster of institutional Zcash products. Grayscale converted its Zcash Trust into a spot ETF in August and later moved to execute a 3-for-1 share split, while 21Shares listed Europe's first Zcash exchange-traded product. Broader crypto markets remained quiet at the time of the filing, with Bitcoin at $86,264.06, up 0.59% over 24 hours, and Ethereum at $2,714.39, up 0.34%, pushing total market capitalization just above $3 trillion, according to CoinGecko.