Cypherpunk Technologies Inc. announced Tuesday that Zooko Wilcox, founder of prominent privacy coin Zcash and former CEO of Electric Coin Company, has joined the Zcash treasury firm as a strategic advisor. The move preceded a sizable surge in Cypherpunk’s stock price Tuesday, all while Zcash itself continues to rebound after a recent sell-off. Cypherpunk said in a press release that Wilcox will guide the company's development of self-sovereign digital systems focused on privacy and freedom. Cypherpunk kicke ...

Group 1: Zcash Performance - Zcash has surged 35% to $664 this week, while Bitcoin has fallen 2% to $95,800 and Ethereum has remained stable [1] - Over the past seven days, Zcash is up 23%, contrasting with Bitcoin and Ethereum's declines of 6% and 7% respectively [1] - Zcash has increased over 1,000% in 2025, rising from the 33rd to the 12th most valuable cryptocurrency [3] Group 2: Market Context - Markets fell on Thursday due to fears that the Federal Reserve would maintain steady interest rates, impacting risk-on assets like cryptocurrencies [2] - The probability of a rate cut in December has decreased to 44%, down from 66% a week ago and 94% last month [2] Group 3: Privacy Technology Developments - The crypto industry has seen multiple privacy milestones in 2025, including the launch of a new "Privacy Cluster" by the Ethereum Foundation and Zcash's new Zashi wallet [4][3] - Aztec, a developer of a privacy-focused layer 2 blockchain, has seen an uptick in the usage of its privacy programming language [4] Group 4: Institutional Interest - The Winklevoss brothers launched a Zcash-focused digital asset treasury, Cypherpunk, purchasing $50 million of Zcash [5] - Tyler Winklevoss emphasized that Zcash could become a significant portion of Bitcoin's market capitalization due to its privacy features [5]