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- Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss filed an S-1 registration statement with the SEC to launch the Winklevoss Zcash ETF on Nasdaq under the ticker WINK.
- Winklevoss Capital Fund indicated nonbinding interest in purchasing up to $100 million of shares in the proposed exchange-traded fund.
- The preliminary filing has not yet become effective and does not guarantee the fund will be approved for trading.
Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss are seeking to launch a Zcash exchange-traded fund, while Winklevoss Capital Fund has indicated nonbinding interest in buying up to $100 million of its shares. The filing comes after Zcash sharply outperformed Bitcoin over the past year.
$100 Million Interest Is Nonbinding
Winklevoss Asset Services filed an S-1 registration statement for the Winklevoss Zcash ETF, which would hold ZEC directly and seek to trade on Nasdaq under the ticker WINK. Gemini Trust Company would custody the fund’s ZEC holdings.
Winklevoss Capital Fund, through affiliates, indicated interest in purchasing up to $100 million of shares. The filing says the indication is nonbinding, meaning the firm could ultimately purchase more, less or none of that amount.
The proposed ETF would charge an annual sponsor fee of 0.25% of its ZEC holdings. Its registration statement has not yet become effective.
Zcash Has Outperformed Bitcoin
ZEC traded near $1,341 on Oct. 7, with a market capitalization of about $22.7 billion. It had gained roughly 724% over the previous year, compared with about 31% for Bitcoin.
ZEC was down about 4% over the preceding seven days, while 24-hour trading volume stood near $820 million.
Winklevoss Ties to Zcash Run Deeper
Gemini added ZEC trading and custody in 2018 and later expanded support for Zcash privacy features. Tyler Winklevoss has previously argued that regulated exchanges and privacy technology can coexist.
“I think the Gemini Zcash announcement is a blueprint for future discussions with regulators.”
The SEC filing is preliminary and does not mean the ETF has been approved for trading. If launched, WINK would give investors exchange-traded exposure to ZEC without requiring them to hold the cryptocurrency directly.
