Winklevoss Asset Services filed with the SEC on October 6, 2026, seeking approval for a spot Zcash ETF that would hold ZEC directly and trade on Nasdaq under the ticker WINK.

The S-1 registration statement is still preliminary. The prospectus says the information could be revised and that WINK shares cannot be sold until the registration statement is declared effective.

The proposed ETF would charge investors a 0.25% annual sponsor fee, with Gemini Trust Company serving as custodian for the fund’s ZEC. The structure would not use leverage or derivatives. Affiliates of Winklevoss Capital Fund have also signaled interest in purchasing as much as $100 million of shares, but that indication is not binding.

The filing comes as ZEC trades around $1,315, down nearly 3% in the past 24 hours. Daily volume is approximately $679 million, while ZEC remains up 11% over the last 30 days. The proposed WINK ETF could give the token another potential source of market attention following its recent rally.

WINK Would Provide Brokerage-Based Exposure to ZEC

The proposed trust would aim to reflect the price of the ZEC it holds, minus operating expenses and other liabilities. If approved, the ETF would give investors a way to gain Zcash exposure through a regular brokerage account without directly buying or storing ZEC.

The fund’s exposure would still be tied directly to the cryptocurrency. The filing states that the trust would hold ZEC itself and would not use derivatives or leverage to meet its investment objective.

That means investors would continue to bear ZEC’s price volatility. WINK shares could also trade above or below the trust’s net asset value depending on supply and demand in the market.

Winklevoss Asset Services would oversee the trust as sponsor, while its affiliate Gemini Trust Company would custody the underlying ZEC. The 0.25% annual fee is one of the main terms disclosed in the proposal, but it does not ensure that WINK will attract significant assets or outperform other Zcash investment products.

According to the filing, Winklevoss Capital Fund, through one or more affiliates, has expressed interest in purchasing up to $100 million in WINK shares. The purchases could occur through authorized participants or on the open market. However, the indication is expressly nonbinding, meaning the affiliates may ultimately buy more, less, or none of that amount.

The proposed product would compete in a U.S. market where Grayscale’s Zcash ETF, ZCSH, is already trading. The primary report also noted that Grayscale had recently announced a 3-for-1 share split.

The report further said ZEC had risen more than 735% over the preceding year and traded near $1,354 on October 6, giving the cryptocurrency a market capitalization of roughly $23 billion. Those figures represent conditions at that point in time rather than a current market quote.

Zcash Exposure Without Direct Wallet Management

Zcash uses zero-knowledge proofs to enable shielded transactions that can conceal transaction amounts and the identities of the sender and recipient. WINK would allow brokerage investors to gain exposure to ZEC without directly using those privacy features or managing the cryptocurrency themselves.

Under the proposed arrangement, Gemini Trust Company would hold the trust’s ZEC, while CSC Delaware Trust Company would act as trustee.

The filing also identifies Cypherpunk Technologies as a Zcash Ecosystem Partner. Its potential involvement could include coinholder polling and advice on protocol and technical developments.

For institutional crypto products, custody is a fundamental part of the structure because investors’ exposure depends on how the underlying cryptocurrency is held. Several operational elements of WINK remain subject to change because the SEC filing is still preliminary.