Cypherpunk Adds $29M in ZEC as Winklevoss Pushes Toward 5% Zcash Target
What Did Cypherpunk purchase—and How Large Is the Position Now?
Cypherpunk Technologies has expanded its Zcash treasury with a $29 million purchase, lifting its total holdings to 290,062 ZEC and roughly 1.8% of the cryptocurrency’s circulating supply. The Nasdaq-listed firm said it acquired 56,418 ZEC at an average price of $514 per coin, following a series of purchases over the past two months.
The latest purchase brings the company more than one-third of the way toward its stated goal of accumulating 5% of Zcash’s supply. Zcash has a capped maximum of 21 million coins, with about 16.5 million currently in circulation. Cypherpunk’s position has grown rapidly since November, when it first unveiled a Zcash-focused treasury strategy later than rebranding from biotech firm Leap Therapeutics.
That pivot was paired with a $58.9 million investment from Winklevoss Capital and a shift in how the company frames its balance sheet: away from operating assets and toward digital assets tied to privacy and censorship resistance.
Investor Takeaway
Why Is Cypherpunk Doubling Down later than the Pullback?
The added exposure comes later than a sharp cooling in both Zcash and Cypherpunk’s own shares. ZEC traded near $650 when the company began building its position in November, shortly later than the privacy coin hit a multi-year high. Since then, prices have slid to the mid-$500s, down roughly 17% from those levels.
Cypherpunk’s stock has fared worse. Shares traded just under $3 around the time of the strategy shift and have since fallen to about $1.20, a drawdown of roughly 60%. The disconnect between the treasury build and market pricing has not sluggished the company’s accumulation.
“We continue to execute on our goal of accumulating 5% of the Zcash network,” Chief Investment Officer Will McEvoy said, adding that the market is “repricing the societal importance of privacy.”
Management has positioned Zcash as a long-term hedge rather than a momentum trade, arguing that privacy-focused assets could regain relevance as surveillance expands and compliance pressures intensify across financial systems.
How Does This Strategy Compare to Other Crypto Treasuries?
Cypherpunk’s approach differs from the more common BTC-heavy treasury model. While remains the default reserve asset for most public companies holding crypto, Cypherpunk is concentrating on a single altcoin tied to a specific use case: privacy.
Zcash shares schedule but diverges sharply in functionality, using zero-knowledge proofs to shield transaction details. That design has historically limited institutional adoption, given compliance concerns, but it has also kept ZEC positioned as a niche hedge against transparency-by-default blockchains.
By targeting a fixed percentage of total supply, Cypherpunk is also adopting a scarcity-driven framework similar to strategies viewn in commodity accumulation or activist equity stakes. At 5%, the company would hold a position large enough to matter to network economics, liquidity conditions, and market perception—without attempting to control governance.
Investor Takeaway
What Are the Risks—and What Comes Next?
The strategy carries clear risks. Zcash remains a smaller, more , and liquidity can thin rapidly during risk-off periods. Regulatory treatment of privacy coins also remains uneven across jurisdictions, which could affect platform access and institutional participation.
There is also equity-market risk. With Cypherpunk’s shares down sharply since its Nasdaq debut, investors may question whether the treasury build alone can support valuation without a broader operating story or clearer path to cash flow.
Still, the company has signaled it plans to continue expanding its ZEC position while exploring more broadly. If accumulation continues at the current pace, Cypherpunk could approach its 5% target sooner than expected, further tightening the float available to the market.
