What is the Winklevoss Zcash ETF (WINK)?

WINK is a proposed spot Zcash exchange-traded fund filed with the SEC on October 6, 2026 by Winklevoss Asset Services, the ETF arm tied to Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss's Gemini exchange. It would hold ZEC directly, use Gemini Trust Company as custodian, list on Nasdaq under the ticker WINK, and charge a 0.25% annual sponsor fee. As of this writing it is only a preliminary filing — the SEC has not approved it, and there's no confirmed launch date.

How is WINK different from Grayscale's ZCSH?

Both would be spot ETFs holding ZEC directly, but WINK's proposed 0.25% fee is one-tenth of the 2.5% Grayscale charges on ZCSH, which has traded on NYSE Arca since August 25, 2026. ZCSH is already live and holds hundreds of millions of dollars in assets; WINK is still an unapproved filing. The two also use different custodians — Gemini for WINK, and Grayscale's own custody arrangements for ZCSH.

Is there a Bitwise Zcash ETF too?

Bitwise filed with the SEC in December 2025 for a batch of 11 crypto 'Strategy ETFs,' including one tracking ZEC, structured differently from a pure spot fund — about 60% of assets would be held directly in the underlying crypto and the rest in ETPs that track it. As of this writing, ticker and fee details for that fund haven't been finalized, so it's a separate, still-pending product rather than a direct spot competitor to ZCSH or WINK yet.

Why has Grayscale's Zcash ETF (ZCSH) been losing assets?

ZCSH's assets fell to roughly $751 million after peaking near $979 million, driven partly by a roughly $93.56 million single-week redemption — its largest since launch. The outflows came as ZEC's price pulled back sharply from its late-September highs, and some of it may reflect investors anticipating cheaper alternatives like WINK. None of this guarantees where either fund's assets go next, and it isn't investment advice.

Winklevoss Zcash ETF (WINK) Explained: How It Compares to Grayscale's ZCSH

Winklevoss Asset Services, the ETF arm connected to Gemini co-founders Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, filed a preliminary S-1 with the SEC on October 6, 2026 for a spot Zcash ETF called WINK. The proposed fund would hold ZEC directly, use Gemini as custodian, list on Nasdaq, and charge a 0.25% annual fee — a tenth of the 2.5% that Grayscale charges on ZCSH, the only spot Zcash ETF currently trading in the US. Nothing about WINK is approved yet; this is a filing, not a launch.

If you’ve seen “WINK” mentioned alongside Zcash’s big 2026 price run, here’s what the filing says, how it stacks up against what already exists, and why the fee gap matters more than it might look at first.

What the Winklevoss Filing Actually Says

The S-1 that Winklevoss Asset Services submitted to the SEC on October 6, 2026 lays out a fairly simple structure: a trust that holds ZEC directly, doesn’t use leverage or derivatives, and would trade on Nasdaq under the ticker WINK if approved. Gemini Trust Company — the exchange the Winklevoss brothers founded — would serve as custodian for the fund’s Zcash holdings, which the filing itself flags as a related-party arrangement worth disclosing since Gemini is a sponsor affiliate (The Block, October 6, 2026).

The headline number is the fee: 0.25% annually, versus Grayscale’s 2.5% on ZCSH (KuCoin, October 2026). Winklevoss Capital Fund, the brothers’ venture firm, also indicated it might buy up to $100 million of WINK shares at launch — but that’s a nonbinding signal of intent, not a commitment, and it shouldn’t be read as a guaranteed source of demand (CryptoBriefing, October 2026).

As with any S-1, this is a preliminary registration. Shares can’t be sold or traded until the SEC declares the registration effective, and the filing doesn’t include a target launch date. Spot crypto ETF registrations have taken anywhere from a few months to well over a year to clear in recent history, so there’s no reliable timeline to point to yet.

WINK vs. ZCSH vs. Bitwise’s ZEC Fund: How the Three Compare

Zcash now has three separate ETF efforts in some stage of existence, and they’re not all the same kind of product. Here’s how they stack up based on what’s publicly confirmed as of this writing:

	Grayscale ZCSH	Winklevoss WINK	Bitwise ZEC Strategy ETF
Status	Trading live	Preliminary S-1 filed, not approved	Filed December 2025, not yet launched
Structure	Spot — holds ZEC directly	Spot — holds ZEC directly (proposed)	Hybrid — ~60% direct ZEC, ~40% in ZEC-tracking ETPs
Exchange	NYSE Arca	Nasdaq (proposed)	NYSE Arca (proposed)
Annual fee	2.5%	0.25% (proposed)	Not yet disclosed
Custodian	Grayscale’s existing arrangement	Gemini Trust Company (proposed)	Not yet disclosed
Launched	August 25, 2026	No date set	No date set

Grayscale’s ZCSH is the only one of the three actually trading. It converted from the older Grayscale Zcash Trust into a listed spot ETF on NYSE Arca on August 25, 2026 (Whale Alert). Bitwise’s effort is structurally different — it’s one of 11 “Strategy ETFs” the firm filed for in December 2025 covering various altcoins, where only part of the fund sits directly in the underlying asset and the rest tracks it through other exchange-traded products, rather than being a pure spot fund (CoinCodeCap). WINK, if approved, would be the second true spot ZEC fund and the first to undercut Grayscale meaningfully on cost.

That fee gap is the real story here. On a $10,000 position held for a year, Grayscale’s 2.5% fee costs roughly $250, while WINK’s proposed 0.25% would cost about $25 — a difference that compounds the longer someone holds the fund. Fee competition like this is exactly what played out in the Bitcoin and Ethereum spot ETF markets in 2024, where newer entrants undercut first-movers and eventually forced some fee cuts across the board. For more on how that fee and flow dynamic has played out with Bitcoin ETFs specifically, see our explainer on Bitcoin ETF inflows and outflows.

Why Grayscale’s ZCSH Has Been Losing Assets

The timing of the Winklevoss filing is notable because it lands right as ZCSH has been bleeding money. The fund’s assets fell to roughly $751 million, down from a peak near $979 million, after a single week in early October saw about $93.56 million in redemptions — its largest weekly outflow since launch (KuCoin; CryptoBriefing).

Some of that is simply ZEC’s price cooling off after its run to roughly $1,698 in late September — when a fund’s underlying asset drops, the dollar value of assets under management drops with it, separate from any actual redemptions. But redemptions were real too, and a cheaper, newly-filed alternative entering the conversation doesn’t help a fund already seeing investors pull back. ZCSH also completed a 3-for-1 forward stock split around September 30, which doesn’t change the fund’s value but does reset its per-share price — a move funds sometimes make to keep shares looking “affordable” to retail investors. None of this proves WINK caused the outflows; the filing came out October 6, after some of the redemption data had already started. It’s more accurate to say both are symptoms of the same cooling-off period after Zcash’s sharp rally. For the full story on that rally and what drove it, see our explainer on Zcash’s 2026 price surge.

Why the Winklevoss Twins Keep Showing Up in Zcash’s Story

This isn’t the Winklevoss twins’ first attempt at a crypto ETF, and it isn’t their first connection to Zcash either. The SEC rejected their proposed Bitcoin ETF back in 2017, a decade-old rejection that’s often cited as an early example of US regulators’ caution toward crypto products before the spot Bitcoin ETF approvals finally came in January 2024. Separately, Gemini — the exchange the brothers founded — was one of the first licensed US platforms to list and custody Zcash, giving the Winklevosses a longer institutional relationship with ZEC than most other ETF sponsors have.

That history doesn’t guarantee WINK gets approved, and it doesn’t tell you anything about whether Zcash itself is a good investment. It does explain why a cheap, Gemini-custodied Zcash fund from this particular sponsor isn’t coming out of nowhere — it fits a pattern of the Winklevosses trying to get first- or early-mover ETF products built around assets they already have exchange infrastructure for.

What Happens Next

There’s no confirmed timeline for WINK. The SEC still has to review the S-1, and the agency can ask for amendments, request more disclosure, or simply take months to act — all standard steps for a new ETF registration rather than signs of a problem. Until the registration is declared effective, WINK shares cannot be issued, sold, or traded on any exchange, so for now the only way to get spot Zcash exposure through a US-listed ETF is Grayscale’s ZCSH.

Worth watching: whether Grayscale responds to the fee pressure by cutting ZCSH’s own 2.5% fee, the way several Bitcoin ETF issuers eventually matched each other on price after competition set in. Also worth watching is what happens with Bitwise’s pending ZEC Strategy ETF, since its hybrid structure and fee haven’t been finalized either — a three-way fee and structure comparison could look very different again in a few months.

The Risk Side of This

An ETF wrapper doesn’t make the underlying asset safer. Zcash has had a volatile 2026, including a roughly 27% drop from its late-September peak, and privacy coins broadly carry regulatory and exchange-listing risk that ordinary coins don’t — Zcash itself has been delisted or restricted by several exchanges over the years on anti-money-laundering grounds. A lower management fee is a real, quantifiable benefit if WINK launches, but it’s a cost-of-ownership detail, not a signal about where ZEC’s price is headed. None of this is financial advice, and a nonbinding $100 million “interest” from an affiliated venture fund is not the same thing as confirmed outside demand. Anyone considering any Zcash-linked product — ZCSH, a future WINK, or anything else — should treat regulatory status, fees, and the asset’s own volatility as separate questions, and do their own research before acting on any of them.

Sources: The Block — Winklevoss group seeks to launch Zcash ETF with 0.25% fee, proposed WINK ticker, KuCoin — Winklevoss Files for Zcash ETF with 0.25% Fee, Competing with Grayscale’s ZCSH, CryptoBriefing — Winklevoss files for spot Zcash ETF with US SEC, Whale Alert — Grayscale files to convert Zcash Trust into first U.S. spot privacy coin ETF on NYSE Arca, KuCoin — Grayscale Zcash ETF Records $93.56M in Weekly Redemptions, CryptoBriefing — Grayscale’s Zcash ETF sheds $93.56 million in a single week, CoinCodeCap — Bitwise Submits Applications With SEC For 11 Crypto ETFs.