Winklevoss Asset Services has filed a Form S-1 registration statement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for a proposed spot Zcash exchange-traded fund (ETF) that would hold ZEC directly and seek a Nasdaq listing under the ticker WINK. The fund's proposed annual sponsor fee is 0.25%, and its brokerage-based structure could give investors Zcash exposure without requiring them to buy or hold the cryptocurrency themselves.

The filing is not SEC approval, and it does not confirm that WINK has launched or begun trading. No trading date has been confirmed, so the proposed ticker and listing should not be mistaken for an available investment.

Tyler Winklevoss, who co-founded the Gemini crypto platform, announced the proposed fund on X (formerly Twitter) on October 7, 2026:

The Winklevoss Zcash ETF will work with @cypherpunk on all Zcash ecosystem matters.

— Tyler Winklevoss (@tyler) October 7, 2026

How the Proposed WINK Fund Would Work

Under the proposal, Winklevoss Asset Services would sponsor the fund, while Gemini Trust Company — identified in the filing coverage as a Winklevoss affiliate — would custody its ZEC holdings. The ETF would hold the cryptocurrency directly and would not use leverage or derivatives to pursue its investment objective.

That structure is intended to track Zcash's price through a traditional brokerage account. Investors would not need to set up a crypto wallet or manage ZEC themselves, although fund shares would remain tied to the price of the underlying cryptocurrency.

Winklevoss Capital Fund, through one or more affiliates, has indicated interest in buying up to $100 million in shares. That indication is nonbinding: it is not a commitment to invest, and it does not guarantee demand for the fund if it eventually becomes available. Indications of this kind commonly appear in ETF registration filings, outlining potential initial demand without binding the interested party.

The proposed 0.25% annual sponsor fee is a recurring fund cost, not a one-time trading charge. For reference, that rate sits in line with the annual fees on several existing US spot crypto ETFs. A brokerage-based product can simplify access, but it does not remove the price risks associated with ZEC, nor does it guarantee that an ETF's share price will match the value of its holdings at every moment.

ZEC Privacy Features and the Existing ETF Landscape

Zcash uses zero-knowledge proofs to enable shielded transactions. In plain terms, this cryptographic method allows the network to verify a transaction while concealing its amount and the identities of the sender and recipient. That feature is central to Zcash's privacy design, and it does not mean every ZEC transaction is shielded.

WINK would enter a US market where Grayscale's Zcash ETF, trading under the ticker ZCSH, is already available, according to the October 6 report. Grayscale recently announced a 3-for-1 share split for ZCSH — a structural change that increases the share count and lowers the per-share price without altering the fund's underlying value. The two products are separate funds, and the existence of a trading Zcash ETF does not establish that WINK has cleared its own registration process. (Source: Yahoo Finance)

CoinGecko data cited in the report put ZEC, the native asset of the Zcash network, at roughly $1,354 on Tuesday, October 6, 2026, with a market capitalization of about $23 billion. The same data showed a gain of more than 735% over the preceding year. Those figures are a dated snapshot from the report, not a current quote or a forecast.

Filing Versus Trading

Form S-1 is the standard registration form for US securities offerings, and a registration statement typically undergoes SEC review — often with amendments — before the agency declares it effective, the step that allows shares to be sold to the public. For WINK, progress would show up as amendments to the filing and, ultimately, an effectiveness decision.

WINK's key milestone is not the proposed Nasdaq ticker but whether the registration process progresses and the fund becomes eligible to trade. Until then, investors have a filing describing a proposed product — not a launched Zcash ETF. The distinction between an ETF filing and actual trading matters for any crypto fund: a planned brokerage route is not yet an available one. The proposed ticker, fee structure, and custody arrangements all remain subject to that registration process.