Winklevoss files spot Zcash ETF with 0.25% fee, undercutting Grayscale’s 2.5%
Winklevoss Asset Services filed a spot Zcash ETF with the SEC on Tuesday, October 6, proposing a 0.25% annual fee, 90% below Grayscale’s 2.5% charge on the market’s only live privacy-coin ETF. The filing signals institutional momentum behind Zcash as a privacy-focused asset, but success depends on SEC approval and whether fee pressure forces Grayscale to respond.
- Winklevoss Zcash ETF would charge 0.25% annual fee versus Grayscale’s 2.5% on ZCSH, the incumbent fund
- Grayscale’s ZCSH has accumulated $890 million in net assets and $233 million in inflows since August 25 launch
- Cypherpunk Technologies, backed by Tyler Winklevoss, has reportedly purchased $29 million worth of Zcash, lifting its stash to nearly 2% of circulating supply as it works toward a 5% target
- 0.25% Winklevoss ETF annual fee, versus Grayscale’s 2.5% comparison
- $890M Net assets in Grayscale’s ZCSH fund since August 25 conversion
- $1,359 Zcash token price on October 6, up from $42, $50 one year prior
According to the S-1 filing, Winklevoss Asset Services will operate the trust with Gemini Trust Company, an affiliate of the Winklevoss twins, as custodian holding Zcash in cold storage. The fund, named the Winklevoss Zcash ETF and trading under ticker WINK on Nasdaq, will hold Zcash directly and price shares by reference to a time-weighted average across major trading platforms. Winklevoss Capital Fund has signaled nonbinding interest in purchasing up to $100 million of shares in the offering.
Cypherpunk Technologies will serve as the trust’s “Zcash Ecosystem Partner,” providing protocol guidance and assisting with coinholder polling and voting. The move extends years of Winklevoss involvement with Zcash: Gemini was the first licensed U.S. exchange to offer Zcash trading and custody, and in January the twins donated $1.2 million worth of tokens to Shielded Labs, an independent Zcash developer.
Cypherpunk’s Zcash accumulation aligns incentives with Winklevoss
Cypherpunk, a Nasdaq-listed firm controlled by Tyler Winklevoss, has been accumulating Zcash aggressively. The company has deployed approximately 4.2 gigasolutions per second of Equihash hashrate, representing roughly 18% of the total Zcash network. Cypherpunk has stated a target of reaching 5% ownership.
The arrangement gives Winklevoss dual exposure: mining revenue flows plus direct Zcash appreciation if the ETF drives institutional demand.
Fee war reshapes Zcash ETF landscape as Bitwise and 21Shares pursue parallel filings
The Winklevoss filing makes it the third issuer chasing a U.S. spot Zcash ETF. Bitwise filed with the SEC late last year for 11 “strategy” ETFs including Zcash alongside tokens such as Aave and Bittensor’s TAO. In Europe, 21Shares listed the continent’s first Zcash ETP on Euronext Paris and Amsterdam in September at a 2.5% fee, matching Grayscale’s charge.
Grayscale’s ZCSH converted from a trust structure and began trading on NYSE Arca on August 25, becoming the first U.S. spot fund tracking a privacy coin. Within three weeks it attracted $233 million in inflows and grew to $890 million in net assets, enough to trigger a 3-for-1 share split.
The fee competition reflects investor appetite for privacy as a 2026 theme, backed by advocates including Andreessen Horowitz crypto and Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin. Zcash uses zk-SNARKs, a cryptographic protocol that allows users to hide the sender, recipient, and transaction amount in on-chain activity.
At $1,359 on Tuesday, the token has surged from $42, $50 a year earlier, drawing institutional attention despite remaining niche versus Bitcoin and Ethereum.
SEC approval timeline and Grayscale’s competitive response remain open questions
The WINK S-1 remains preliminary; the trust cannot sell shares until the SEC declares the registration effective. No fee war with Grayscale materializes unless and until regulators clear the fund to trade.
The Winklevoss filing arrives 13 years after the twins filed for the first U.S. spot bitcoin ETF, which the SEC rejected in 2017 over price-manipulation concerns.
Zcash faces fewer liquidity and custody obstacles than Bitcoin did then, but regulators may scrutinize the privacy-coin focus and the overlap between Winklevoss Capital’s equity stake in Cypherpunk and its sponsorship of the ETF. Grayscale has not yet disclosed plans to compete on fees or expand its Zcash offering.
The CCS read. We see a structural advantage for Winklevoss: if WINK clears, the 0.25% fee compels existing Grayscale holders to evaluate redemption and switching costs. A 2.25-percentage-point fee gap is material for institutions managing billions in privacy-focused allocation. Grayscale’s scale and first-mover status matter, but fee pressure on legacy crypto products has historically driven rapid outflows in ETF cohorts.
The SEC’s next formal action, whether a deficiency notice, request for additional information, or an approval timeline, will signal whether regulators view the Winklevoss-Cypherpunk alignment as a conflict requiring remedy or as acceptable under existing fund governance standards. That decision will determine whether Grayscale faces competition before 2027 and whether the broader Zcash ecosystem consolidates around one issuer or fragments across three.
