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Ahmed Barakat
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Winklevoss Asset Services filed an S-1 registration statement with the SEC on Oct. 6, 2026, for a proposed spot Zcash ETF that would hold ZEC directly and list on Nasdaq under the ticker WINK.
The filing is preliminary: the prospectus says its information may change and shares cannot be sold until the registration statement becomes effective.
The proposed fund would charge a 0.25% annual sponsor fee, use Gemini Trust Company as custodian, and avoid leverage and derivatives. Winklevoss Capital Fund affiliates have indicated interest in buying up to $100M in shares, but that interest is expressly nonbinding.
This news dropped as ZEC is trading at $1,315, down nearly 3% over the past 24 hours. Daily trading volume sits at $679M, and Zcash is still up +11% over the past 30 days, with investors hoping this WINK ETF news could spark a fresh rally.
WINK Zcash ETF Would Add a Brokerage Route to Direct ZEC Exposure
The proposed trust’s objective is to provide exposure to the price of the ZEC it holds, less operating expenses and other liabilities. Its structure would let investors obtain Zcash exposure through a traditional brokerage account without purchasing or custody of the cryptocurrency themselves.
That access route does not change the underlying asset exposure. The fund would own ZEC directly, and the filing says it would not use derivatives or leverage to pursue its objective.
Shareholders would still face ZEC’s price volatility, while shares bought or sold on the exchange could trade at a premium or discount to the trust’s net asset value.
Winklevoss Asset Services would sponsor the trust, with its affiliate Gemini Trust Company holding the ZEC. The proposed 0.25% annual sponsor fee is a central term of the offer, but it does not guarantee that WINK will attract assets or compete successfully with an existing product.
The filing says Winklevoss Capital Fund, through one or more affiliates, has indicated interest in purchasing up to $100 million of shares, either from authorized participants or in the market. That is not committed seed capital or a binding order: the affiliates could ultimately buy more, less, or none of the stated amount.
The proposal enters a US market where Grayscale’s Zcash ETF, ZCSH, is already trading. The primary report said Grayscale had recently announced a 3-for-1 share split.
It also reported that ZEC had gained more than 735% over the prior year and traded at roughly $1,354 on Tuesday, Oct. 6, with a market capitalization of about $23Bn. Those figures describe the market at that point, not a current quote.
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Custody and the Zcash Structure Define the Product
Zcash uses zero-knowledge proofs to support shielded transactions that can conceal transaction amounts and the identities of senders and recipients. WINK would give brokerage investors exposure to ZEC without requiring them to interact directly with those network features or manage the asset’s custody themselves.
Under the prospectus, Gemini Trust Company would hold all ZEC on the trust’s behalf, while CSC Delaware Trust Company would act as trustee.
The filing also establishes a relationship with Cypherpunk Technologies as a Zcash Ecosystem Partner, with possible services including coinholder polling and guidance on protocol and technical developments.
Institutional crypto products depend on custody arrangements and asset exposure; institutional key custody is therefore part of the product’s structure, not a side detail. Several operational details remain open in the preliminary document.
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