Cypherpunk grows Zcash holdings with latest $29M purchase

Nasdaq-listed Cypherpunk Technologies has expanded its crypto corporate treasury with a new purchase of Zcash tokens for about $29 million.

According to Tuesday’s announcement, the company bought 56,418 Zcash (ZEC) paying an average price of $514 per token. The purchase brings Cypherpunk’s total holdings to 290,062.67 ZEC, or about 1.76% of the token’s circulating supply.

Zcash, launched in 2016 as a Bitcoin fork, is a privacy-focused blockchain that uses zero-knowledge proofs to verify transactions without revealing the sender, recipient or transaction amount. Like Bitcoin, its native token has a 21 million cap.

According to Cypherpunk’s chief investment officer, Will McEvoy, the company aims to accumulate 5% of the total ZEC supply and it is “well positioned for a market that is repricing the societal importance of privacy.”

Formerly a biotech company called Leap Therapeutics, the company rebranded in November as Cypherpunk Technologies, as a Zcash-focused digital asset company. The company’s stock has surged almost 170% to about $1.18 at time of writing, from $0.44 before it rebranded, according to Google Finance data.  

Cypherpunk is backed by Winkevoss Capital, the venture capital firm of Gemini founders Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss.

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Zcash outpaces Bitcoin as privacy debate returns

Zcash has surged more than 800% this year, rising to about $536 per token from roughly $58 a year ago, according to CoinGecko data, while Bitcoin (BTC) is down about 5% over the same period.

The performance follows renewed privacy debates in 2025, driven by advances in AI and digitalization, alongside growing support from influential crypto commentators.

Several crypto industry figures, including former BitMEX CEO Arthur Hayes and Helius co-founder Mert Mumtaz, have highlighted Zcash’s privacy features as a factor behind the token’s recent performance, which has outpaced much of the broader altcoin market.

Zcash Foundation executive director Alex Bornstein told Cointelegraph that the asset’s recent momentum reflects organic demand, driven by rising unease over government overreach and digital privacy.

On Monday, Hayes wrote on X that ZEC’s price may be setting up for an initial move toward the $1,000 level. On a recent podcast, he said markets could see renewed liquidity through behind-the-scenes Fed funding tools, a shift he believes would favor zero-knowledge technologies and privacy tokens such as ZEC.

Still, not everyone is convinced an upward move is imminent. Analyst Eric Van Tassel warned on Saturday that a “corrective pullback” to $400 is possible.

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