Crypto06 October, 20262 min read
Winklevoss Asset Services Files Spot Zcash ETF Registration With SEC for Nasdaq Ticker WINK
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Winklevoss files SEC registration for spot Zcash ETF; Nasdaq listing under WINK; Gemini custodian. 0.25% annual sponsor fee; no leverage or derivatives; cash creation/redemption by participants.
SEC Filing for WINK
Winklevoss Asset Services filed a registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for a spot Zcash exchange-traded fund that would hold ZEC directly and seek a Nasdaq listing under the ticker WINK.
The proposed fund would charge an annual sponsor fee of 0.25% and would not use leverage or derivatives to achieve its investment objective.
Gemini Trust Company would serve as custodian for the ETF’s ZEC holdings, while Winklevoss Capital Fund indicated interest in purchasing up to $100 million of the ETF’s shares through one or more affiliates.
The filing also described a structure in which authorized participants would use cash to create and redeem shares, with the fund making ZEC purchases using cash contributed by those participants.
ZEC Price and NU7
ZEC traded at about $1,354 on Oct. 6 and ranked as the 10th-largest cryptocurrency by market value, as one report tied the ETF filing to broader market momentum.
Another report said ZEC was trading slightly more than $1,376 and that Zcash rose over 5% in the past 24 hours as traders focused on the NU7 mainnet decision scheduled Oct. 20.
The same coverage framed the ETF as a way for investors to gain exposure to Zcash through a traditional brokerage account without directly buying or holding the privacy-focused cryptocurrency.
The filings described Zcash as using zero-knowledge proof technology to support shielded transactions that can conceal transaction amounts and the identities of senders and recipients.
Grayscale, Custody, and Risks
Grayscale’s Zcash ETF, ZCSH, was already trading in the U.S., and one report said Grayscale recently announced a 3-for-1 share split for the fund. The Winklevoss proposal placed Gemini in the custody role and described ZEC holdings being kept in segregated cold storage addresses, while the sponsor fee would be accrued daily in ZEC.
Cypherpunk Technologies was named in the registration as a partner for Zcash network services, and one report said the agreement could include coinholder polling and voting and advising on technical changes to the network. The filing also included risk disclosures tied to an Orchard bug described as a Shielded Labs researcher identifying a vulnerability in late May, with the same coverage stating the S-1 warned that "there is no cryptographic method to determine conclusively whether the vulnerability was exploited prior to remediation."