Winklevoss Twins Bet On Zcash, Privacy To Combat AI Threat 2025
The year 2025 will go down as the year of digital asset treasury companies. Michael Saylor’s Strategy and Tom Lee’s Bitmine have forged ahead with Bitcoin and Ethereum-based strategies, while a handful of alternative DATs have grabbed headlines.
It seemed like it was only a matter of time before the ecosystem welcomed a Zcash DAT, and the Winklevoss twins beat competitors to the mark.
The Gemini co-founders announced the launch of Cypherpunk, which has raised $100 million to acquire ZEC for its treasury. Tyler Winklevoss said the company aims to accumulate up to 5% of the circulating ZEC supply. To date, Cypherpunk holds 233,644 ZEC.
Related: The Bitcoin vs Zcash debate intensifies as ZEC reclaims $700 level
While there has been overwhelming support for Zcash on X, critics have remained skeptical about the newfound fervor for the cryptocurrency. The protocol has been live since 2016 and some continue to question the narrative being pushed by major industry figures.
Cameron Winklevoss said that they had been “bullish on Zcash” since its inception nine years ago, while admitting that the protocol has hit a new inflection point in 2025, similar to what Bitcoin has experienced at various points in its 16 years of life:
“The people who are excited about Zcash are also OG Bitcoiners and cypherpunks who were there in the early days. Zooko Wilcox, being one of the founders of Zcash, is an OG cypherpunk. I think it was just a matter of time,” he said.
The Winklevoss twins are renowned as two of the earliest adopters of Bitcoin on Wall Street. According to 2013 reports, the twins purchased 100,000 BTC, which was valued at around $11 million.
With Bitcoin trading around $120 per coin, it was a significant bet on the long-term potential of the preeminent cryptocurrency. In hindsight, it will go down as a life-changing decision for the brothers.
However, unlike other early Bitcoin OGs who remained true to BTC and denounced all other cryptocurrencies, the Winklevoss twins have had a more open mind to the myriad of protocols and tokens that have come to exist in Bitcoin’s wake.
Source: CoinTelegraph
