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About Cypherpunk
Cypherpunk is a Zcash treasury company converted from a Nasdaq-listed biotech, buying and holding ZEC with cash for public-market investors who treat Zcash as a reserve asset. It addresses the difficulty traditional investors face gaining concentrated privacy-coin exposure through compliant channels. Its mechanism holds ZEC on the balance sheet, with the reserve asset relying on Zcash's zero-knowledge proof shielded pool for private transfers, and the company engages Zcash's founder as adviser and funds ZODL, tying its value to ZEC reserves and the privacy network rather than operating any protocol or node.
Cypherpunk's value is tightly linked to the ZEC price and its cancer-drug subsidiary keeps consuming cash, with CYPH trading below the value of its coins. In October 2026 a Winklevoss-affiliated firm filed a spot Zcash ETF application with the SEC, giving the treasury thesis a regulated on-ramp.
Cypherpunk began as Nasdaq-listed biotech Leap Therapeutics. On November 12, 2025 it renamed itself and pivoted to a Zcash treasury, using a $58.88 million private placement led by Winklevoss Capital to buy 203,775 ZEC at $245.37; the ticker became CYPH the next day.
The company set a target of owning 5% of ZEC's 21 million supply and recruited Zcash founder Zooko Wilcox and ECC chief executive Josh Swihart as advisers. In March 2026 it put $5 million into Zcash Open Development Labs alongside a16z crypto, Coinbase and Paradigm.
In June 2026 an AI-assisted audit found a four-year-old soundness bug in the Orchard pool that could have minted undetectable counterfeit ZEC. ZEC fell more than 40% in two days; Cypherpunk's stock fell about 40% and it booked a $77.2 million first-quarter loss.
After the NU6.2 hard fork repaired the circuit, ZEC rebounded. Cypherpunk's second quarter swung to $39.4 million of net income on unrealized gains, and it ended June holding 323,394 ZEC, roughly 1.92% of circulating supply.
On October 6, 2026 Winklevoss Asset Services filed for the WINK spot Zcash ETF with the SEC. That gives the treasury thesis a regulated on-ramp, but CYPH has traded below the value of its coins, and its cancer-drug subsidiary keeps consuming cash.
On March 9, 2026 Cypherpunk invested $5 million in the Zcash Open Development Lab, its first technology investment outside ZEC; by August 11 it held 323,394.38 ZEC at an average cost of $341.83, about 1.92% of circulating supply.
Cypherpunk's second-quarter net income was $39.4 million, or $0.18 per share, driven mainly by a $46.0 million unrealised gain on ZEC; at June 30 the treasury was valued at $129.4 million at a $400.09 ZEC price, against $7.6 million of cash. It added 2,362 ZEC on August 12 at an average of $420.97, disclosed $33.33 million of mining investment on August 18 to start proprietary Equihash hashrate, and appointed Valar Group founder and ZIP editor Dev Ojha as an adviser. Subsidiary Leap Therapeutics won FDA fast track for sirexatamab in May and aligned with regulators on a Phase 3 design in DKK1-high colorectal cancer, while Cypherpunk is evaluating a spin-out or partnership.
Cypherpunk treats its treasury as ecosystem leverage: it holds about 1.88% of Zcash circulating supply at an average near $337.86 and has stated a 5% goal, using its own Equihash hashrate and ecosystem bets to lower cost basis. The $5 million stake in ZODL is not a financial position - ZODL owns the Zodl wallet and protocol-layer development, and wallet usability drives shielded-pool adoption, hence long-run demand for the ZEC it holds. The cost is mark-to-market volatility: ZEC fell from $508.09 to $240.47 in the first quarter, producing a $77.2 million quarterly net loss. Leap's sirexatamab holds FDA fast-track status, and a spin-off or out-licensing could fund further purchases without dilution.
Tyler Winklevoss, co-founder. He holds a bachelor's degree in economics from Harvard University and an MBA from Oxford's Saïd Business School, competed as an Olympic rower in 2008, co-founded crypto exchange Gemini with his twin brother and serves as its CEO.
Cameron Winklevoss, co-founder. He holds a bachelor's degree in economics from Harvard University and an MBA from Oxford's Saïd Business School, competed as an Olympic rower in 2008, serves as president of Gemini and has allocated heavily to bitcoin since 2012.
Douglas Onsi, Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer and General Counsel. Trained as a lawyer with a Juris Doctor degree, he previously served as president and CEO of biotechnology company Leap Therapeutics, and became CEO of Cypherpunk Technologies in November 2025.
Will McEvoy, Chief Investment Officer and director. He came from the investment team at Winklevoss Capital, focuses on privacy technology and digital asset allocation, joined Cypherpunk in 2025 and led multiple ZEC purchases while coordinating the privacy-asset direction.
Kevin Zhang, Head of Mining. A veteran mining operations specialist, he was hired in 2026 to run Cypherpunk's Zcash mining fleet, deployed entirely onshore in the United States.
Cypherpunk Technologies has recently seen a significant team change. In August 2026, veteran miner Kevin Zhang (Twitter: @SinoCrypto) joined the company as Head of Mining. Zhang has been involved in Bitcoin mining since 2014 and shifted to Zcash in 2016. He previously led the construction of large-scale mining facilities in North America and served as SVP of Mining Strategy at Foundry, bringing extensive industry resources and operational experience. His appointment coincides with Cypherpunk's launch of its Zcash mining operations and the deployment of the world's largest Zcash mining fleet, reinforcing its ZEC treasury strategy. His addition is expected to enhance the professionalism and efficiency of the company's mining operations.