Assertion Supported AI assessment confidence: 95% certainty 5/5 debate potential 1/5

Wilcox: Zcash raised $3M from Silicon Valley and Bitcoin angels

Zooko Wilcox · 812: Crypto: $3m Raised, He's Build the SSL for Cryptocurrency · Oct 14, 2017 · at 14:29

Zooko Wilcox, founder of Zcash, explains how the privacy-focused cryptocurrency project initially financed its development team.

0:00 / 0:15exact quote · 15.5s

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“So what we did was, when we were planning this, and this was just gleams in our eyes, we raised funding from a set of Silicon Valley and Bitcoin angels. There were a couple of Silicon Valley DCs, but they were almost all angels. We raised three million dollars”

quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →

The claim, plainly

Zcash raised $3 million in early funding primarily from Silicon Valley and Bitcoin angel investors alongside a few venture capitalists.

a quote alone can be ambiguous, so this restates it with the references and context of the conversation around it resolved. AI-written; the tape below the player is the source.

Assessment

Official disclosures from the Electric Coin Company (Zerocoin Electric Coin Company) published on September 23, 2016, along with venture capital database records and independent reporting, confirm that the company raised exactly $3 million across its early financing rounds ($1 million seed round closed in January 2016 and $2 million closed in summer 2016). Furthermore, the investor registry confirms that the syndicate consisted predominantly of prominent Silicon Valley and Bitcoin angel investors (including Naval Ravikant, Fred Ehrsam, Roger Ver, Erik Voorhees, Barry Silbert, and Vlad Zamfir) alongside a small group of venture capital firms (such as Pantera Capital, Digital Currency Group, and Fenbushi Capital).

Electric Coin Company official disclosure (September 23, 2016) documenting a cumulative $3 million raised across early financing rounds ($1M seed plus $2M second round for 16.4% equity).
Investor syndicate records confirming the majority of early backers were angel investors (e.g., Naval Ravikant, Fred Ehrsam, Roger Ver, Erik Voorhees, Barry Silbert, Vlad Zamfir) alongside a small roster of venture capital funds (Pantera Capital, DCG, Fenbushi Capital).

Checked against

[1] electriccoin.co [2] electriccoin.co [3] preqin.com [4] electriccoin.co [5] forbes.com [6] kando.tech [7] sec.gov [8] sec.gov

"Zerocoin Electric Coin Company" "Pantera" "Naval Ravikant" site:electriccoin.co "Funding" OR "investors" 2016 site:electriccoin.co "investors" OR "funding" OR "3 million" "Pantera Capital" "Zcash" "1 million" OR "investors" "Pantera Capital" "Zcash" "February 2016" OR "Jan 2016" OR "January 2016" "Funding, Incentives, and Governance" "Zcash" "February 1, 2016" OR "Feb 1, 2016" "Electric Coin Company" "Pantera" "Naval Ravikant" "2016" OR "2015"

assessed as of 2026-09-02

This assessment is an AI reading of a public statement, made against the cited references with the confidence shown. It can be wrong. The quote, the tape and the references are all on this page; if something is off, use report an error below. full disclaimer →

Mentioned

Bitcoin Silicon Valley Zcash

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Wilcox: Zcash raised $3M from Silicon Valley and Bitcoin angels

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