Winklevoss Twins Double Down on Zcash — Hire ZEC Founder Zooko Wilcox as Advisor

ccn.comPublicado a 2025-12-10Actualizado a 2025-12-10

Resumen

The Winklevoss twins, Tyler and Cameron, have deepened their involvement with the privacy-focused cryptocurrency Zcash (ZEC) by hiring its founder, Zooko Wilcox, as an advisor to their recently launched treasury company, Cypherpunk. Backed by a $50 million investment from Winklevoss Capital, Cypherpunk was established in November and has already acquired 203,775 ZEC, representing about 1.25% of the total supply. The company aims to accumulate at least 5% of all ZEC. Wilcox, who founded Zcash in 2016, brings deep technical and philosophical insight to the project. This move signals Cypherpunk's intent to be an active participant in the Zcash ecosystem, building a team of experts to advance privacy technology. The Winklevoss twins have a long history with Zcash, having invested in its seed round in 2018 and listed it as a portfolio asset as early as 2019.

Key Takeaways

Cypherpunk is a ZEC treasury company launched by Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss in November,
The company has hired Zcash founder Zooko Wilcox as an advisor.
The Winklevoss twins have been involved with Zcash for years.

After launching a Zcash treasury company in November, Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss have doubled down on the privacy-focused cryptocurrency.

Funded with $50 million from the Winklevoss’ investment company, Cypherpunk announced on Tuesday, Dec. 9, that it has hired ZEC founder Zooko Wilcox as an advisor.

New Trending Crypto Wallet Offers

Tangem

promotions

Trusted & Secure

Coins

Claim Offer

BitBox

promotions

Trusted, Secure & Crypto Friendly

Coins

–

Claim Offer

Blockstream

promotions

Trusted, Secure & Crypto Friendly

Coins

–

Claim Offer

Winklevoss Twins Establish $58 Million Zcash Treasury

Following the established digital asset treasury (DAT) playbook, in November, Winklevoss Capital led a $58.88 million private placement in Leap Therapeutics, which subsequently rebranded as Cypherpunk.

Almost immediately, the Nasdaq-listed company acquired 203,775 ZEC, representing around 1.25% of the cryptocurrency’s entire supply.

“We plan to continue accumulating ZEC rapidly so that Cypherpunk owns at least 5% of the total ZEC supply,” Tyler Winklevoss stated at the time.

Zcash Founder Joins Cypherpunk

As founder of the Electric Coin Company, Wilcox helped launch Zcash in 2016. Although he stepped down as CEO in 2023, he remains a highly influential figure within the ZEC community.

“As the founder of Zcash, Zooko intimately understands both the technical foundations and the philosophy behind privacy-preserving technology,” Cypherpunk Chief Investment Officer Will McEvoy said in a statement .

Cypherpunk’s latest hire suggests the company doesn’t plan to watch from the sidelines, but will be an active participant in the Zcash ecosystem.

“We’re assembling a world-class bench of cypherpunks, cryptographers, technologists, and thinkers committed to advancing Zcash and the global privacy ecosystem,” McEvoy expanded.

Supporting ZEC Growth

The recent DAT play isn’t the first time the Winklevoss twins have thrown their support behind Zcash. On the contrary, they have been quietly financing the project for years.

According to Tracxn , Winklevoss Capital participated in Electric Coin Company’s seed funding round in 2018.

Meanwhile, the company first listed Zcash on its portfolio page as early as March 2019, making it one of the very first institutional investors to endorse what was still considered an experimental privacy coin at the time.

Top Picks for Zcash

Best Exchanges for Zcash Looking to Trade Zcash? Check Out These Exchanges
Top Crypto Wallets Keep Your Zcash in These Top Wallets
Gamble Crypto Safely Here See Our Picks for the Best Crypto Gambling Sites

Criptos en tendencia

CitreaCTR

wrapped stUSDTWSTUSDT

Velodrome FinanceVELODROME

BrevisBREV

ZRX（0X）ZRX

PancakeSwapCAKE

Lecturas Relacionadas

Stablecoin Salaries: Why Are They Becoming the First Choice for Cross-Border Workers?

Stablecoin Salaries: Why They're Becoming the Top Choice for Global Remote Workers The traditional global salary system carries hidden exchange rate risks for freelancers in countries like India, Argentina, and Turkey who earn in USD but spend in local currencies. When salaries are instantly converted to local currency, workers lose purchasing power if that currency depreciates against the dollar. For instance, an Indian designer converting a $2000 monthly salary to rupees lost over 10% in purchasing power last year due to the rupee's decline. Holding even a portion of income in USD or USD-pegged stablecoins can preserve value. Stablecoins offer a solution by breaking down barriers to holding dollars. Opening foreign USD bank accounts is difficult, and international wire transfers incur high fees (averaging 6.5%) and delays. In contrast, stablecoin transfers are fast and low-cost. Furthermore, many countries with high inflation and depreciating currencies restrict citizens' access to foreign currency. Self-custody stablecoin wallets enable workers to hold dollar-equivalent assets without needing bank approval, bypassing these limits. These wallets integrate multiple functions: they allow users to convert only what's needed for daily expenses into local currency, keep the remainder in stablecoins, connect to on-chain lending or yield products, and even link to payment cards for direct spending. While challenges remain—such as the lack of deposit insurance and evolving regulatory frameworks—the trend is clear. Reports indicate a growing preference for USD or stablecoin payments among freelancers in high-inflation countries. This shift represents a fundamental restructuring of salary functions: payment currency, asset storage, yield generation, spending, and cross-border flow. It offers the freedom and flexibility that are core to money's purpose, signaling a profound change in the global financial landscape.

Foresight NewsHace 12 min(s)

Stablecoin Salaries: Why Are They Becoming the First Choice for Cross-Border Workers?

Foresight NewsHace 12 min(s)

Don't Just Focus on Layoffs, The New Structure of the Ethereum Foundation is More Worthy of Appreciation

The Ethereum Foundation (EF) has undergone a significant organizational restructuring, with the most notable change being a strategic refocusing of its priorities rather than just a 20% staff reduction (approximately 54 people). The new structure clearly prioritizes the Protocol and Access layers, which now comprise the largest teams (57 and 34 people, respectively). This signals EF's intent to concentrate its core resources on fundamental, hard-to-outsource aspects of Ethereum: protocol evolution, security, privacy, client development, and the foundational access layer. Key areas within the Protocol layer, led by an architecture group including Vitalik Buterin and Justin Drake, receive heightened emphasis. These include post-quantum security, zkEVM, formal verification, and long-term roadmap development ("Strawmap"). This reflects a shift towards tackling complex, interdependent challenges like scalability, privacy, and future-proofing the protocol, potentially moving from a pure "redundant security" multi-client model towards more specialized clients aided by AI-assisted formal verification. Financially, EF's budget is being reduced by approximately 40%. The goal is to transition from spending about 15% of its remaining funds annually to a more sustainable 5% rate, akin to a long-term endowment, ensuring its longevity. Concurrently, the restructuring involves pushing certain responsibilities—such as application development, adoption, and ecosystem coordination—to external organizations like EthLabs, the Ethereum Apps Guild, and others. This "multi-node" model aims to increase ecosystem resilience by decentralizing functions beyond the EF, though it introduces new coordination challenges. In essence, the reorganization represents EF consciously narrowing its scope to focus on the hardest, most critical protocol-level problems while fostering a more distributed and sustainable ecosystem structure for Ethereum's future growth.

Foresight NewsHace 40 min(s)

Don't Just Focus on Layoffs, The New Structure of the Ethereum Foundation is More Worthy of Appreciation

Foresight NewsHace 40 min(s)

Report Analysis: What Is Coherent Planning as CPO Booms?

Title: Report Interpretation: What Moves Is Coherent Making Amid the CPO Boom? Summary: JP Morgan analyst Samik Chatterjee reiterates an Overweight rating on Coherent (COHR), citing undervalued growth potential across three core areas: data center optical transceivers, co-packaged optics (CPO) chips, and industrial lasers/thermal management. COHR's 1.6T data center transceivers are in high demand, with pricing remaining firm. The rise of CPO is seen not as a threat but as a catalyst, creating higher demand for sophisticated optical components, an area where COHR holds a competitive edge with its comprehensive portfolio (lasers, isolators, VCSELs, thermoelectric coolers). Each CPO chip offers significantly greater revenue potential than traditional transceivers. Furthermore, its Optical Circuit Switch (OCS) technology targets a potential $4B market with reliability and power advantages. The company is expanding its InP (Indium Phosphide) device capacity fourfold within two years, securing substrate supply and transitioning to more cost-effective 6-inch wafers. As one of only two major suppliers of high-quality pump lasers—currently in severe shortage—COHR can now move up the value chain from components to complete line cards/systems, boosting ASP over tenfold. Gross margin targets (>42%) may be revised upward due to high-end product premiums, cost improvements from the wafer transition, and contributions from new high-margin products like CPO and OCS. Its efficient thermadite thermal material also offers long-term growth. Industrial segment revenue grows at a steady 5-10%, supported by semiconductor equipment orders. Changes in Apple's Face ID protocol present a re-competition opportunity for 3D sensing. Overall, Coherent is positioned as a key infrastructure provider, with AI-driven compute demand fueling the need for high-speed optical interconnectivity. Growth from CPO/OCS, stable industrial performance, and margin improvement support the bullish thesis. *Disclaimer: This summary interprets a third-party analyst report from JP Morgan. It does not constitute investment advice.*

marsbitHace 1 hora(s)

Report Analysis: What Is Coherent Planning as CPO Booms?

marsbitHace 1 hora(s)

Dan Koe's New Article: Escape the Fate of the Wage Slave, How to Survive in the Tide of AI Replacement?

Dan Koe's article argues that the real threat in the AI era is not technology itself, but financial dependency on employers. He critiques the "wage slavery" of unfulfilling work and identifies five core skills for resilience: agency, taste, persuasion, persistence, and iteration. These are developed not by consuming content, but by starting your own venture. The key to escaping the "employee mindset" is a radical identity shift. This requires: 1) Drastically changing your environment and daily inputs, 2) Choosing a creative medium (like content or code) that provides real-world feedback through trial and error, and 3) Using that feedback to learn and adapt. Koe strongly advocates for content creation over coding for beginners, as it builds irreplaceable subjective taste and audience connection. The practical starting point is a 15-minute self-inquiry to define your "life's work." Answer: What do you know deeply? What innate abilities do you have? What childhood interests were suppressed? Then, identify your contrarian beliefs—what does the mainstream get wrong in your area? The overlap is your unique direction. The final, non-negotiable step is to publish your first piece of content tomorrow. Embrace that it will be bad; the goal is to enter the feedback loop of creation, learning, and iteration, which is the true path to independence.

marsbitHace 1 hora(s)

Dan Koe's New Article: Escape the Fate of the Wage Slave, How to Survive in the Tide of AI Replacement?

marsbitHace 1 hora(s)

After Laying Off 20% of Staff, What Are the Key Points of EF's New Structure?

Following the completion of a months-long organizational restructuring, the Ethereum Foundation (EF) announced a 20% workforce reduction (approximately 54 employees) on June 23rd. It reorganized its teams into five new core clusters: Protocol, Access, User, Community, and Institutional (plus Operations/Management support units). Officially, this move implements the EF's 2026 Mandate and 2025 Treasury Management Policy, aiming to create a more focused and "self-sovereign" organization. The restructuring prioritizes the CROPS principles—Censorship Resistance, Openness & Freedom, Privacy, and Security—as foundational organizational tenets. The Protocol cluster will focus on core protocol R&D, including MEV reduction and zkEVM. The Access cluster emphasizes preserving user "zero option" for non-custodial, permissionless interaction. The User, Community, and Institutional clusters will manage external engagement, with the latter handling institutional and regulatory matters. While offering enhanced severance and transition support for affected employees, the EF did not disclose budget allocations or specific KPIs for the new clusters. This has led to market uncertainty about the impact on project funding and development priorities. Analysts note the announcement's positive tone of mission focus contrasts with a backdrop of recent EF leadership changes and broader ecosystem pressures. The true impact—whether this signifies strategic realignment or reactive contraction—will become clearer as the new structure's resource allocation and project prioritization are revealed in the coming months.

marsbitHace 1 hora(s)

After Laying Off 20% of Staff, What Are the Key Points of EF's New Structure?

marsbitHace 1 hora(s)

Trading

Spot

Futuros

Artículos destacados

Cómo comprar ZEC

¡Bienvenido a HTX.com! Hemos hecho que comprar Zcash (ZEC) sea simple y conveniente. Sigue nuestra guía paso a paso para iniciar tu viaje de criptos.Paso 1: crea tu cuenta HTXUtiliza tu correo electrónico o número de teléfono para registrarte y obtener una cuenta gratuita en HTX. Experimenta un proceso de registro sin complicaciones y desbloquea todas las funciones.Obtener mi cuentaPaso 2: ve a Comprar cripto y elige tu método de pagoTarjeta de crédito/débito: usa tu Visa o Mastercard para comprar Zcash (ZEC) al instante.Saldo: utiliza fondos del saldo de tu cuenta HTX para tradear sin problemas.Terceros: hemos agregado métodos de pago populares como Google Pay y Apple Pay para mejorar la comodidad.P2P: tradear directamente con otros usuarios en HTX.Over-the-Counter (OTC): ofrecemos servicios personalizados y tipos de cambio competitivos para los traders.Paso 3: guarda tu Zcash (ZEC)Después de comprar tu Zcash (ZEC), guárdalo en tu cuenta HTX. Alternativamente, puedes enviarlo a otro lugar mediante transferencia blockchain o utilizarlo para tradear otras criptomonedas.Paso 4: tradear Zcash (ZEC)Tradear fácilmente con Zcash (ZEC) en HTX's mercado spot. Simplemente accede a tu cuenta, selecciona tu par de trading, ejecuta tus trades y monitorea en tiempo real. Ofrecemos una experiencia fácil de usar tanto para principiantes como para traders experimentados.

362 Vistas totalesPublicado en 2024.12.12Actualizado en 2026.06.02

Discusiones

Bienvenido a la comunidad de HTX. Aquí puedes mantenerte informado sobre los últimos desarrollos de la plataforma y acceder a análisis profesionales del mercado. A continuación se presentan las opiniones de los usuarios sobre el precio de ZEC (ZEC).