Company Shifts Focus from Biotechnology to Digital Assets
Shares of Leap Therapeutics (Nasdaq: LPTX) experienced a significant surge, climbing more than 170% in early trading on Wednesday. This dramatic increase followed the company's announcement of a strategic shift to a crypto treasury strategy. The company has officially rebranded as Cypherpunk Technologies (Nasdaq: CYPH) and is now adopting a digital asset treasury strategy centered around Zcash (ZEC), the native token of the Zcash protocol.
Utilizing $50 million from a $58.88 million private placement, which was led by Winklevoss Capital, the company acquired 203,775 Zcash (ZEC) tokens. The average purchase price per token was $245.37. This move signifies a definitive departure from its biotechnology roots and a pivot into the cryptocurrency sector.
Winklevoss Capital is a well-known venture capital firm established by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, the co-founders of the prominent cryptocurrency exchange Gemini.
Tyler Winklevoss, a co-founder of Gemini, expressed his vision for the new venture in a post on X. He stated, "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."
Zcash, launched in 2016 as a fork of Bitcoin, is recognized for its privacy-focused blockchain technology. It employs zero-knowledge proofs, specifically zk-SNARKs, to enable the verification of transactions without disclosing sensitive details such as the sender, receiver, or transaction amount.
Cypherpunk's new business strategy is accompanied by significant leadership changes. Khing Oei, the CEO of a European Bitcoin treasury company, has been appointed as the chairman of the board. Additionally, Will McEvoy, principal at Winklevoss Capital, will assume the role of Cypherpunk's chief investment officer.
The Recent Performance and Outlook of Zcash
Zcash (ZEC) has experienced a remarkable price trajectory this year. The token staged a substantial rebound, escalating from approximately $48 in early September to over $640 within a matter of weeks. This surge allowed ZEC to reclaim a position among the top 20 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization.
Arthur Hayes, co-founder of BitMEX, has publicly predicted that ZEC's price could potentially reach $1,000 in 2025. However, recent technical indicators suggest that a price correction might be on the horizon.
Market analysts have noted that ZEC is currently the most overbought cryptocurrency on record, with its relative strength index (RSI) reaching an impressive 94.24 this week. Historically, when ZEC's RSI climbs above 70, the token has often continued its rally for several weeks before undergoing significant corrections, which have ranged from approximately 45% to over 90%.
In recent commentary, Hayes advised Zcash holders to move their tokens off centralized exchanges and into self-custody. He recommended that users "shield" their assets for private transactions.
These remarks coincided with a period of intense volatility for ZEC. The token experienced a spike to $723 over the weekend, followed by a significant decline of 37% to around $450 by Wednesday.