Gemini's founder brothers and DCG's founder step up their expansion into Zcash, competing in the mining and ETF markets.

According to Bloomberg, the Winklevoss twins, founders of crypto exchange Gemini, and Barry Silbert, founder of Digital Currency Group (DCG), are expanding their footprint in the Zcash ecosystem. Cypherpunk Technologies, backed by the Winklevoss brothers, and Fortitude Mining, supported by Silbert, have become major ZEC mining operators and plan to invest tens of millions of dollars to further expand their hash rate. Currently, Cypherpunk controls roughly 20% of Zcash’s total network hash rate; Fortitude said its hash rate share will also reach around 20% after deploying its latest batch of mining equipment. In terms of investment products, Grayscale Investments, a DCG subsidiary, launched a Zcash ETF in the U.S. in August, while the Winklevoss brothers filed their own Zcash ETF application this month. As both parties ramp up their bets on mining and investment products, Zcash’s network hash rate and token holding concentration are drawing growing scrutiny.