Privacy-Focused Cypherpunk Secures Another Major Zcash Acquisition

Cypherpunk Technologies, the Nasdaq-listed digital asset treasury firm backed by the Winklevoss twins, has substantially increased its privacy coin holdings. The company announced a fresh $28 million purchase of zcash (ZEC), expanding its total ZEC holdings to 290,062 tokens worth approximately $83.6 million at current prices. This latest move reinforces Cypherpunk’s strategic positioning in the rapidly expanding privacy coin sector.

Building a Substantial Stake in Zcash

The acquisition consisted of 56,418 ZEC tokens purchased at an average price of $514.02 each. Combined with previous holdings, Cypherpunk now controls roughly 1.76% of zcash’s circulating supply, making it one of the largest institutional holders of the privacy-focused blockchain asset.

What’s particularly notable is the company’s cost basis. With an average acquisition price of $334.41 per token, Cypherpunk sits comfortably above water—a rare position among crypto treasury firms that have endured significant market headwinds since late 2025. While most digital asset companies have been nursing losses, Cypherpunk’s strategic accumulation has yielded substantial paper profits.

Why Privacy Coins Are Suddenly Attracting Institutional Capital

Zcash’s explosive performance provides crucial context for this acquisition. Since September, ZEC has surged more than 1,200%, a dramatic reversal that reflects fundamentally shifting investor sentiment around privacy-preserving cryptocurrencies. As institutional players and retail investors increasingly reassess the societal importance of financial privacy, assets designed specifically for anonymous transactions have emerged from the margins to capture mainstream attention.

This momentum represents a sharp departure from crypto’s broader market trajectory. While most digital assets have struggled during the correction phase, privacy coins have defied gravity, suggesting a genuine reallocation of capital toward specific use cases rather than mere sector rotation.

Cypherpunk’s Path to Controlling 5% of the Network

Cypherpunk’s ambitions extend well beyond current holdings. Will McEvoy, the firm’s chief investment officer, underscored the company’s determination to “continue accumulating toward a 5% stake of the Zcash network.” This milestone would position Cypherpunk as a singular force within the ecosystem, capable of influencing governance and protocol development discussions.

McEvoy’s statement positioned this strategy within a broader thesis: that markets are fundamentally repricing the societal value of privacy infrastructure. By building a dominant position now, Cypherpunk appears to be betting that demand for privacy-centric blockchain technology will only intensify amid growing concerns about financial surveillance and data security.

This latest $28 million purchase follows an $18 million zcash acquisition disclosed in November, demonstrating consistent execution of the accumulation strategy. As Cypherpunk continues to build its war chest of privacy assets, the market watches to see whether institutional enthusiasm for zcash and similar tokens proves durable or represents a temporary crypto narrative shift.