Winklevoss Asset Services filed S-1 registration documents on October 6 for a spot Zcash exchange-traded fund charging an annual management fee of 0.25%—one-tenth of the fee assessed by incumbent rival Grayscale. The filing comes as Grayscale's Zcash ETF (ZCSH) recorded a $218 million decline in total assets over less than two weeks.
Key Takeaways
- Winklevoss Asset Services submitted an SEC filing for the WINK ETF on Nasdaq with a 0.25% annual sponsor fee.
- Grayscale's ZCSH fund saw total assets contract from $1 billion on September 24 to $781.96 million by October 5.
- Gemini Trust is designated as custodian, while Winklevoss Capital Fund indicated non-binding interest in purchasing up to $100 million in launch shares.
Grayscale's ZCSH Sees Outflows and Asset Drop
Grayscale's ZCSH, currently the sole ETF holding Zcash (ZEC), saw its asset base shrink from $1 billion on September 24 down to $781.96 million on October 5. Net fund redemptions accounted for approximately $97 million of the overall decrease, causing cumulative net inflows to fall from $306.12 million to $209 million across that period. The remaining reduction in fund value resulted from price declines in the underlying ZEC asset.
Investors withdrew capital during four of the fund's five sessions between late September and early October, with daily outflows ranging between $27 million and $30 million from September 30 to October 2. This followed a prior record weekly net outflow of $93.6 million. Amid the institutional movements, Zcash has consolidated near key trading levels while trading near $1,342, representing a 4.8% increase over 24 hours.
Winklevoss Proposes Low-Fee WINK Listing
The proposed Winklevoss vehicle would cost investors $25 annually per $10,000 invested, compared to $250 per year for ZCSH. The preliminary S-1 filing designates Nasdaq as the exchange partner under the ticker symbol WINK. The submission marks exactly 13 years since founders Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss filed the first-ever spot Bitcoin ETF application.
Gemini Trust Company, an affiliate of the sponsor, will act as asset custodian, which the filing explicitly discloses as a potential conflict of interest. Additionally, Winklevoss Capital Fund expressed non-binding interest in purchasing up to $100 million of WINK shares. The sponsor entity, created on October 1, lacks prior experience managing pooled investment vehicles. The fund cannot begin trading until declared effective by the SEC, with initial seed capital, pricing benchmark, and authorized participants left unspecified in the initial filing.
Why It Matters
Fee compression is hitting specialized crypto asset products much faster than it did first-generation Bitcoin and Ethereum funds. By undercutting Grayscale's 2.50% fee structure by 90%, the proposed WINK fund puts direct pressure on incumbent asset managers relying on early-mover dominance. If approved, lower structure costs could test whether institutional demand for privacy-focused cryptocurrencies like Zcash can expand beyond initial trust wrappers.
