CypherCat is a meme launched on StonkFun, paired with CypherPunk ($CYPH) stock.
Cypherpunk is a privacy focused company that holds millions of dollars of ZCash on its balance sheet. They invest in privacy tech and own around 5% of the hashrate of the ZCash network
The thesis is simple. By holding CypherCat, you earn $CYPH stock on Solana.
There is no website, there is no roadmap. It's simply great tech
I love you
6AUURRdHb9TrfPHv9AMofa8NEVoZDXcsbWKcUBpFSRXs
I think $CYPH might be one of the most interesting trade ideas and one of the most asymmetric expressions of the $ZEC thesis
I think the market is looking at CYPH primarily as a ZEC treasury company, but the more interesting part of the thesis is the mining business
the existing treasury gives you direct exposure to ZEC. the mining operation gives you a cheap, reflexive call option on it
the basic flywheel:
higher ZEC price
→ larger mining cash flow
→ more retained ZEC
→ greater ZEC/share
→ stronger CYPH equity
→ improved financing capacity
→ more mining capacity + ZEC accumulation
at a ZEC price of ~$590 and production of ~7,800 ZEC/month, CYPH could mine roughly $55m of annualized revenue
assuming a ~60% mining EBITDA margin, that’s approximately $33m of annualized EBITDA
at a 3.5x normalized mining earnings multiple, the mining operation alone could be worth ~$116m
I don’t think 3.5x is an aggressive multiple. distressed or high-cost miners can trade around 2–4x, while standard pure-play miners can trade around 4–6x. CYPH doesn’t need a premium multiple for the setup to work
the important point is that the mining business has operating leverage to ZEC
if ZEC increases 2x, the mining economics can grow significantly faster than the existing treasury — even after accounting for higher network difficulty and lower production
in my 2x ZEC case, I assume monthly production falls from ~7,800 to ~7,020 ZEC as additional hashrate enters the network
even with that haircut, the model gets to approximately:
• ~$99m annual mining revenue
• ~$60m mining EBITDA
• ~$209m mining-business value at 3.5x
• ~$381m ZEC treasury value
• ~$595m total SOTP value
in a 4x ZEC case, I get more conservative:
• monthly production falls to ~6,240 ZEC
• EBITDA margin compresses to ~55%
• the mining multiple compresses to 3x
that still produces approximately:
• ~$177m annual mining revenue
• ~$97m mining EBITDA
• ~$292m mining-business value
• ~$1.06bn total SOTP value
this is why I don’t view CYPH as simply ZEC with corporate-wrapper risk
a static DAT holds an asset and waits for it to appreciate
CYPH owns the asset, produces more of it and can potentially use the resulting cash flow and stronger balance sheet to increase future production
there is an important reflexive element:
as ZEC rises, mining margins expand, treasury NAV increases, retained production becomes more valuable, equity financing becomes easier and the company can add capacity without selling as much ZEC
price appreciation can improve both sides of the balance sheet while allowing ZEC/share to compound
the primary risk is that mining remains highly competitive
higher ZEC prices attract hashrate, increase difficulty and reduce CYPH’s share of network rewards. there are also power-cost, execution, dilution and equipment risks
that’s why my upside cases haircut production, compress margins and reduce the mining multiple rather than assuming perfect linear scaling
the key question isn’t simply “how much ZEC does CYPH own?”
it’s how much ZEC can CYPH produce per fully diluted share over time, and what is the mining operation worth under different ZEC-price and network-difficulty assumptions?
if the answer is meaningfully more than the market expects, the treasury becomes the floor
my current view is that the market is focused on CYPH as a ZEC treasury vehicle, while the mining business may be the most asymmetric part of the capital structure
if ZEC works, CYPH gets both treasury appreciation and operating leverage
not just a ZEC proxy — a reflexive operating call option on ZEC
(disc: long $CYPH / ZEC)
There was a massive backlog of $CYPH rewards to be paid out to holders which created a lot of sell pressure on solana:6AUURRdHb9TrfPHv9AMofa8NEVoZDXcsbWKcUBpFSRXs over the past 12 hours
These dips got bought, our holders got airdropped free stock, and now we’re going higher
• CYPHERCAT
Bitcoin stores value.
Zcash makes it private.
That is the whole thesis.
@tyler and @cameron started Cypherpunk to not only accumulate 5% of ZEC supply, but to push privacy forward.
CypherCat reflects $CYPH on Solana.
Cleanest onchain beta to the Zcash treasury.