Winklevoss group seeks to launch Zcash ETF with 0.25% fee, proposed WINK ticker

Winklevoss Asset Services has filed a preliminary S-1 registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, proposing a spot Zcash (ZEC) exchange-traded fund.

The ETF would hold ZEC directly, with Gemini Trust Company serving as custodian, and would charge a 0.25% annual sponsor fee while covering ordinary operating expenses. The fund would list on Nasdaq under the ticker WINK.

Winklevoss Asset Services is the newly formed sponsor of the ETF and is wholly owned by Winklevoss Asset Services Holdings.

The trust has entered into an agreement with Cypherpunk Technologies to serve as its Zcash ecosystem partner, assisting with matters including protocol development and coinholder polling.

The filing comes 13 years after the pair filed for the first U.S. spot bitcoin ETF, though the SEC eventually shot the filing down in 2017 over concerns of BTC price manipulation.

Winklevoss Capital Fund has indicated interest in purchasing up to $100 million of shares, although the indication is nonbinding.

The filing builds on the Winklevosses' years-long involvement with Zcash. Gemini became the first licensed exchange to offer Zcash trading and custody, while Winklevoss-backed entities later accumulated significant ZEC, including a $29 million purchase by Cypherpunk that brought its holdings to nearly 2% of circulating ZEC. Tyler and Cameron also donated $1.2 million worth of ZEC to Shielded Labs, an independent Zcash development organization.

The Grayscale Zcash ETF (ZCSH) is currently the only live U.S. spot ZEC ETF, having begun trading in August. ZCSH attracted more than $233 million in inflows and reached nearly $890 million in net assets less than a month after launch, prompting a 3-for-1 split.

Bitwise has also filed for a Zcash ETF.