Leap Therapeutics surges 170% after $50M Zcash buy with Winklevoss backing

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The biotech firm is shifting to a crypto-focused strategy, backed by Winklevoss Capital, and investing $50 million in the Zcash protocol's native token.

Leap Therapeutics surges 170% after $50M Zcash buy with Winklevoss backing

Shares of Leap Therapeutics (Nasdaq: LPTX) surged more than 170% in early trading on Wednesday after the company announced a shift to a crypto treasury strategy.

The company announced its rebranding as Cypherpunk Technologies (Nasdaq: CYPH) and adoption of a digital asset treasury strategy focused on Zcash (ZEC), the native token of the Zcash protocol.

The biotech company used $50 million from a $58.88 million private placement led by Winklevoss Capital to purchase 203,775 Zcash (ZEC) at an average price of $245.37 per token, marking a move away from biotechnology and into the crypto sector.

Winklevoss Capital is a venture capital firm founded by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, who also co-founded the cryptocurrency exchange Gemini.

“As our lives have moved online, privacy’s become a rare, vanishing commodity… That’s why we founded Cypherpunk — a company dedicated to privacy and self-sovereignty,” Tyler Winklevoss, one of the founders of crypto exchange Gemini, wrote on X.

Launched in 2016 as a Bitcoin fork, Zcash (ZEC) is a privacy-focused blockchain that uses zero-knowledge proofs (zk-SNARKs) to verify transactions without revealing sender, receiver, or amount.

Cypherpunk’s new business strategy comes with two additions to its board of directors. Khing Oei, the CEO of a European Bitcoin treasury company, will serve as chairman of the board. Will McEvoy, principal at Winklevoss Capital, will serve as Cypherpunk’s chief investment officer.

The rise of Zcash

ZEC has been on a ride this year. The token staged a sharp rebound, jumping from about $48 in early September to over $640 within weeks and reclaiming a spot among the top 20 cryptocurrencies.

BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes recently predicted ZEC’s price could reach $1,000 in 2025. However, recent technical indicators suggest a price correction could be in store.

According to market analysts, the token is now the most overbought on record, with its relative strength index (RSI) reaching 94.24 this week.

Historically, when ZEC’s relative strength index (RSI) climbs above 70, the token often extends its rally for weeks before undergoing steep corrections that have ranged from roughly 45% to more than 90%.

On Wednesdays, Hayes told Zcash holders to move their tokens off centralized exchanges and into self-custody, telling users on X to “shield” their assets for private transactions.