Another Zcash ETF Is Coming: Winklevoss Twins File for 'WINK'

Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss are making a bet on privacy coins, filing with regulators to launch a spot Zcash exchange-traded fund as the once-shunned asset enjoys a dramatic revival.

The Winklevoss Zcash ETF, outlined in an S-1 registration statement filed Monday with the Securities and Exchange Commission, would hold ZEC directly and seek to track its price, giving investors exposure through a traditional brokerage account rather than buying and storing the token themselves. The fund is slated to trade on Nasdaq under the ticker "WINK," with a 0.25% sponsor fee.

The twins' crypto exchange, Gemini, would serve as custodian, holding the trust's ZEC in cold storage. Winklevoss Capital Fund has indicated an interest in buying up to $100 million of shares in the offering, though the filing notes that's a non-binding commitment.

The trust also tapped Cypherpunk Technologies, the Winklevoss-backed Zcash treasury company, as its "Zcash Ecosystem Partner" to advise on protocol matters and coinholder voting.

The filing lands amid a striking resurgence for Zcash, a privacy coin that lets users shield the sender, recipient and amount of a transaction using cryptography called zk-SNARKs.

After years as a regulatory pariah, ZEC has surged into the top ranks of digital assets this year, driven by rising concern over financial surveillance and a wave of institutional packaging. Crypto asset manager Grayscale recently converted its Zcash Trust into a spot ETF in August and later moved to split its shares, while 21Shares listed Europe's first Zcash exchange-traded product.

A WINK listing would add the industry's most recognizable set of twins to that push.

The filing doesn't shy from the risks, flagging ZEC's extreme volatility and the unique vulnerabilities of privacy coins. It specifically notes the soundness bug found this year in Zcash's Orchard shielded pool, which briefly sent ZEC down roughly 50% before the network patched it with the Ironwood upgrade.

The filing is only a first step, and the SEC must still sign off before trading can begin. Like all spot crypto ETFs, the fund would track a highly volatile asset, meaning investors could lose big or win big on a coin that has surged over 2,000% in the last year.