Winklevoss Asset Services filed with the SEC for a fund that would hold ZEC directly. The Nasdaq proposal is not yet an approved launch.
Winklevoss Asset Services has filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for an exchange-traded fund that would hold Zcash’s ZEC directly. The October 6 S-1 filing proposes listing the Winklevoss Zcash ETF on Nasdaq under the ticker WINK.
The preliminary prospectus describes a way to gain price exposure through a brokerage account without personally storing ZEC. The registration statement is not yet effective, however. The document says shares cannot be sold until it becomes effective, and no firm trading launch date is provided.
Direct ZEC exposure with a 0.25% annual fee
The fund aims to track the price of Zcash after expenses and liabilities. It does not plan to use leverage or derivatives. Its ZEC would be held by Gemini Trust Company, an affiliate of the sponsor.
The proposed annual sponsor fee is 0.25%. That fee covers ordinary operating expenses, while extraordinary expenses may fall outside it. The figure therefore should not be treated as an unconditional ceiling on every cost the fund might incur.
Investors would own fund shares rather than hold ZEC directly. The ownership structure also affects pricing: shares traded on an exchange can change hands above or below their net asset value per share.
Bloomberg senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas also highlighted the Winklevoss filing in an October 6 post.
Eric Balchunas’s October 6 post about the Zcash ETF filing
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$100 million of interest is not a commitment
The filing says Winklevoss Capital Fund LLC, through affiliates, has indicated interest in buying up to $100 million of shares. Purchases could be made through authorized participants or brokers in the market.
That amount is not money already invested in the fund. The prospectus explicitly says the interested parties:
“could determine to purchase more, fewer or no Shares”
A filing and a launch are separate stages. WINK and the 0.25% fee are proposed product terms. The $100 million expression of interest is nonbinding, and the filing does not amount to SEC approval or a confirmed trading debut.
The document’s preliminary nature is also visible in its unfilled fields, including the initial seed capital amount and date. Subsequent filings and official announcements will be needed to establish when shares might become available and on what final terms.
