Winklevoss twins bet on Zcash, privacy to combat AI threat

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The twelvemonth 2025 volition spell down arsenic the twelvemonth of integer plus treasury companies. Michael Saylor’s Strategy and Tom Lee’s Bitmine person forged up with Bitcoin and Ethereum-based strategies, portion a fistful of alternate DATs person grabbed headlines.

Zcash (ZEC), the privateness protocol calved retired of a hard fork of the Bitcoin codebase successful 2016, has been 1 of the large winners successful 2025. Prominent manufacture advocates person been touting the value of privacy-preserving cryptocurrencies, and Zcash has been the outright victor successful presumption of percent terms gains.

It seemed similar it was lone a substance of clip earlier the ecosystem welcomed a Zcash DAT, and the Winklevoss twins bushed competitors to the mark.

The Gemini co-founders announced the launch of Cypherpunk, which has raised $100 cardinal to get ZEC for its treasury. Tyler Winklevoss said the institution aims to accumulate up to 5% of the circulating ZEC supply. To date, Cypherpunk holds 233,644 ZEC.

Speaking exclusively to Cointelegraph during the Bitcoin Amsterdam league recently, the Winklevoss twins said their newfound absorption connected privateness was driven by important advancements successful artificial quality implicit the past 2 years.

“We’re immense fans of Bitcoin. We’re hodlers, of course, and besides immense fans of Zcash, which we presumption arsenic encrypted Bitcoin. Bitcoin is wherever you store your value, and Zcash is wherever you transact oregon walk your value, and truthful we launched a DAT for Zcash, and we’re truly dedicated to privateness and self-sovereignty this week to assistance mainstream these ideas,” Tyler Winklevoss said.

“The catalyst for Bitcoin was precise overmuch the fiscal situation of 2008, and the catalyst for privateness is the dawn of the property of AI.”

Tyler Winklecoss remains convinced that Bitcoin (BTC) and Zcash volition coexist and complement each different successful the years to come. Bitcoin could perchance adhd important privateness functions by adopting assorted opcode changes, but the twins said that Zcash could enactment arsenic the privateness furniture for transactions, portion Bitcoin would proceed to service arsenic an unrivalled integer store of value.

“I deliberation the existent satellite works with Bitcoin and Zcash. Ideally, Bitcoin would person added privateness successful the aboriginal days, and possibly it will. I deliberation a batch of cryptos are going to beryllium adding privateness successful implicit time. Bitcoin truly proved retired the conception of decentralization and non-government wealth successful a large way. But there’s much enactment to beryllium done,” Tyler Winklevoss said.

Cypherpunk backmost successful vogue

While determination has been overwhelming enactment for Zcash connected X, critics person remained skeptical astir the newfound fervor for the cryptocurrency. The protocol has been unrecorded since 2016 and immoderate proceed to question the communicative being pushed by large manufacture figures.

Cameron Winklevoss said that they had been “bullish connected Zcash” since its inception 9 years ago, portion admitting that the protocol has deed a caller inflection constituent successful 2025, akin to what Bitcoin has experienced astatine assorted points successful its 16 years of life:

“Bitcoin’s had a mates of antithetic inflection points on the way. I deliberation the archetypal 1 we experienced was the ‘bail in’ successful Cyprus successful 2013. That sent Bitcoin up, I deliberation implicit $100 successful a precise abbreviated play of time. I deliberation the satellite took announcement each of a sudden.”

The explosive improvement of AI is present creating a akin concern for privateness protocols, with Zcash hitting its ain inflection constituent successful caller months. Tyler Winklevoss said developers and advocates progressive successful the Zcash question are increasing progressively affirmative astir its future.

“The radical who are excited astir Zcash are besides OG Bitcoiners and cypherpunks who were determination successful the aboriginal days. Zooko Wilcox, being 1 of the founders of Zcash, is an OG cypherpunk. I deliberation it was conscionable a substance of time,” helium said.

“Crypto is not a zero-sum game”

The Winklevoss twins are renowned arsenic 2 of the earliest adopters of Bitcoin connected Wall Street. According to 2013 reports, the twins purchased 100,000 BTC, which was valued astatine astir $11 million.

With Bitcoin trading astir $120 per coin, it was a important stake connected the semipermanent imaginable of the preeminent cryptocurrency. In hindsight, it volition spell down arsenic a life-changing determination for the brothers.

However, dissimilar different aboriginal Bitcoin OGs who remained existent to BTC and denounced each different cryptocurrencies, the Winklevoss twins person had a much unfastened caput to the myriad of protocols and tokens that person travel to beryllium successful Bitcoin’s wake.

“We don’t presumption this arsenic a zero-sum crippled wherever the pastry is fixed. Bitcoin is evidently golden 2.0. It’s the soundest wealth successful the world. But erstwhile Ethereum came on and started moving connected innovating programmability, which I thought was truly cool, Bitcoin didn’t privation to bash that,” Cameron Winklevoss said.

“I don’t deliberation that it’s taking distant from Bitcoin actually, if it brings successful radical into the space, let’s accidental similar engineers who privation to enactment connected astute contracts successful Ethereum who weren’t excited astir it with Bitcoin, past that’s truly positive, due to the fact that erstwhile you bargain Ethereum, well, past you’re person 1 measurement person to buying Bitcoin,” helium added.

The effect is an improvement that continues to assistance the manufacture innovate, and the inferior solves pressing problems successful the past.

“Bitcoin evidently innovated with impervious of work. Ethereum innovated with programmability and present Zcash with privacy. I similar that innovation, I similar to spot that happen. I deliberation each of it grows the full pie, including the Bitcoin pie.”

Magazine: 2026 is the twelvemonth of pragmatic privateness successful crypto: Canton, Zcash and more

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