Zcash chaos 🥴

Privacy coin Zcash plunged after the entire development team quit in protest—but some supporters are still bullish on ZEC's prospects.

Author

Andrew Hayward
January 08, 2026

📝 What you need to know

Privacy coin Zcash surged in value at the end of 2025, but renewed optimism around the token may now be clouded following the departure of the entire team behind Zcash creator Electric Coin Company—and a resulting dive in ZEC’s price.

On Wednesday, former ECC CEO Josh Swihart said his entire team was “constructively discharged”—that is, they left amid what could be considered a “hostile or intolerable work environment,” per U.S. law—following a dispute with the board of Bootstrap, the nonprofit established to support the Zcash protocol.

Swihart said the team is forming a new company with the same goal of “building unstoppable private money.” Despite a dive under $400 for the first time in three weeks, some Zcash supporters—like Helius Labs CEO Mert Mumtaz—believe the shift will ultimately be bullish for ZEC.

Zcash Plunges Double Digits After ECC Team ‘Constructively Discharged’

In a statement, the board said that the disagreements stemmed from recent proposals to privatize the Zashi mobile wallet.

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📚 Watch and Learn

📹️ WATCH: The Zcash Situation Explained! Interview with ZEC Bull Mert! BTC Below $90K! ZEC Falls 19%!

Crypto majors fell again yesterday as BTC lost $90K; BTC -2% at $89,900; ETH -3% at $3,100, SOL -3% at $134; XRP -7% to $2.08. LIT (+3%), WLFI (+3%) and XMR (+3%) led top movers. ZEC fell 19% after the developer team resigned following a dispute with the board; the team has promised to form a new company and continue the mission, more.

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