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Cypherpunk Technologies Buys 1.25% of Zcash Supply — Launches $50M Privacy Treasury

Thu Nov 13 2025

Cypherpunk Technologies (CYPH) launches a $50M digital asset treasury, buying 203,775 ZEC and targeting 5% supply as institutions move toward privacy assets in the AI era.

🕶️ Cypherpunk Technologies Goes All-In on Zcash — Buys 1.25% of Total Supply

Former biotech firm Leap Therapeutics rebrands, raises a $50M digital asset war chest, and targets ZEC as the future of private money.

In one of the boldest pivots of 2025, Leap Therapeutics has officially rebranded as Cypherpunk Technologies Inc. (Nasdaq: CYPH) — and immediately launched a $50 million Digital Asset Treasury (DAT) strategy focused almost entirely on Zcash (ZEC).

Backed by Winklevoss Capital, the company acquired 203,775 ZEC at an average price of ~$245, securing 1.25% of the total supply with intentions to accumulate at least 5%.

The thesis is simple: in a world ruled by AI, surveillance capitalism, and data harvesting, privacy becomes an asset class — and Zcash is the purest form of encrypted digital money.

🔎 Quick Facts

💼 New name: Cypherpunk Technologies Inc. (CYPH)
💰 Treasury size: $50 million
🪙 ZEC acquired: 203,775 ZEC
📉 Average buy: ~$245 per ZEC
📦 Supply held: 1.25% of total ZEC
🎯 Target: accumulate ≥ 5% of ZEC supply
📈 Backer: Winklevoss Capital

🔐 “Zcash Is Encrypted Bitcoin”

To justify the move, Tyler Winklevoss shared a clear comparison in his post on X:

“If Bitcoin is digital gold, Zcash is encrypted bitcoin — or digital cash.”

Cypherpunk argues that ZEC is poised to become the leading privacy store-of-value, offering protection against a world where every on-chain movement is recorded, analyzed, and scraped by AI.

The move also reflects a broader shift: public companies are now exploring privacy assets as strategic treasury positions — something unthinkable just two years ago.

🧭 Why It Matters

Cypherpunk’s transition from biotech to digital assets isn’t random — it’s philosophical. The company says privacy is the prerequisite for freedom, sovereignty, and economic agency in the digital age.

Key implications:

🏦 Institutional adoption of privacy coins is now officially underway.
🛡️ Zcash’s zk-SNARKs give it a unique advantage vs transparent blockchains.
📉 Regulated entities are embracing privacy-preserving treasury strategies.
🤖 AI-driven surveillance increases demand for encrypted value transfer.
📊 ZEC could one day capture a meaningful slice of Bitcoin’s market cap.

Cypherpunk is positioning itself as a publicly traded privacy asset fund — one of the first of its kind on Nasdaq.

👥 Leadership & Governance

Cypherpunk’s new structure reads like a crypto-native leadership squad:

Khing Oei — Chairman; background in crypto treasuries & hedge funds.
Will McEvoy — Chief Investment Officer; principal at Winklevoss Capital and board member.
Douglas E. Onsi — CEO; leading the shift toward long-term ZEC accumulation.

With this lineup, Cypherpunk becomes one of the largest institutional ZEC holders — actively shaping liquidity, demand, and future adoption.

📈 The Digital Privacy Treasury Model

Cypherpunk frames privacy coins not as speculative assets, but as:

🛡️ hedges against AI-driven surveillance,
🔐 encrypted alternatives to public-chain financial exposure,
📦 critical infrastructure for sovereign digital economies.

Zcash’s capped supply, battle-tested cryptography, and institutional-grade privacy make it an ideal candidate for a treasury designed around encrypted value.

🚀 The Bigger Picture

Cypherpunk is recreating the MicroStrategy playbook — but for privacy assets instead of Bitcoin. And with a Nasdaq listing, it gives public investors direct exposure to ZEC through a regulated vehicle.

As AI reshapes society, privacy will become scarce — and assets built around it could soar. Cypherpunk wants to front-run that shift.