Cypherpunk Holdings Invests in zkSNACKs: A New Hope for Privacy in Cryptocurrency

Investing in Privacy

Cypherpunk Holdings has just leveled up its commitment to cryptocurrency privacy by investing a cool $337,500 in zkSNACKs, the masterminds behind the well-known Wasabi Wallet. What’s more interesting? This deal translates to a 4.5% stake in zkSNACKs. Talk about a stake that isn’t just for dinner!

Meet the New Board Member

With this acquisition, Cypherpunk’s chief investment officer, Moe Adham, is now cooling it as a member of zkSNACKs’ board. According to Cypherpunk’s big cheese, President and CEO Dominic Frisby, the hard work and perseverance behind this deal is commendable. Frisby expressed his admiration for Wasabi’s product and acknowledged its critical role in restoring bitcoin’s fungibility. Now that’s something you can raise a glass to!

The Bigger Picture

In a recent investor presentation, Cypherpunk also highlighted other eye-catching investments, including:

• **Samourai Wallet:** A $100,000 investment in another privacy-centric Bitcoin wallet.
• **Chia:** A $300,000 outlay into the decentralized blockchain project.
• **Hydro66:** Investments into a Swedish datacenter catering to cloud providers and crypto miners.

Mixed Results for Wasabi Wallet

However, not everything is rainbows and unicorns. A report from blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis shows Wasabi Wallet has mixed up around $250 million in Bitcoin by 2019. Strikingly, there’s been a surge in this volume since the beginning of this year. Most funds routed through mixing services are generally for privacy purposes rather than illicit activities—so hey, there’s that!

Concerns from the Competition

In July, the Samourai Wallet crew took to Telegram to air some grievances about Wasabi’s privacy promises. They threw some shade by claiming Wasabi transactions aren’t as private as advertised. They contend that tracing mixed BTC is disturbingly easy. The message? “With Wasabi if you are mixing 10 BTC, I can trivially track that 10 BTC as it is peeled down into smaller UTXOs.” Shady, right?

Final Thoughts

In an ever-evolving cryptocurrency landscape, investments like Cypherpunk’s in zkSNACKs bolster the narrative around the importance of privacy. Despite the concerns raised, companies like Wasabi Wallet continue to play pivotal roles in the dialogue about cryptocurrency integrity. Stay tuned, because this is just the beginning of a bumpy yet exciting ride!