After raising a $58.9 million private investment from Winklevoss Capital, a Gemini founders' VC unit, Nasdaq-listed Leap Therapeutic goes all in on Zcash (ZEC), the fastest-growing privacy cryptocurrency. The cancer drug developer even changed the name to Cypherpunk Technologies to reflect this major pivot.
Zcash (ZEC) DAT announced: Leap Therapeutic rebrands to Cypherpunk Technologies
According to the official statement of its team, Leap Therapeutic, a producer of cancer drug sirexatamab, officially rebrands to Cypherpunk Technologies as it pivots to building Zcash (ZEC) digital treasury. One month ago, it secured almost $59 million for its crypto strategy from Winklevoss Capital.
In particular, the company disclosed that $50 million of proceeds from the previously announced private placement were used to purchase 203,775.27 ZEC at an average purchase price of $245.37 per ZEC. That said, the company is already up by 93% on its first allocation.
As Zcash (ZEC) is one of the cypherpunk cryptocurrencies, Leap Therapeutics is changing its ticker symbol to CYPH as part of the rebranding under the Cypherpunk name. The company will begin trading under its new name and ticker symbol, CYPH, on Thursday, Nov. 13.
The company also introduced the appointment of Winklevoss Capital's Khing Oei and Will McEvoy to its Board of Directors, effective Nov. 11, 2025.
"Privacy season" over?
Douglas E. Onsi, President and Chief Executive Officer of Cypherpunk, explained the motivation behind such an eccentric move:
We are pleased to welcome Khing and Will to the Board of Directors, and to have Will serve as Chief Investment Officer as we advance our strategy to create long-term shareholder value through active participation in Zcash. Participant control and privacy, enabled by Zcash, are critical as financial transactions move increasingly to blockchain and tokenization.
Meanwhile, after tenfold growth in two months, the Zcash (ZEC) rally has taken a breath. After hitting a local high at $713 five days ago, it dropped below $450 today.
In the last two days, ZEC cryptocurrency lost 33% of its valuation. In the same period, Monero (XMR) lost 20% and Railgun (RAIL) dropped from $5 to $3.75.
Dan Burgin
Vladislav Sopov
U.Today Editorial Team