Chiara Bianchi
The organization behind the privacy-centric blockchain Zcash is facing a major internal upheaval after the entire staff of the Electric Coin Company (ECC) stepped down following a governance dispute with its overseeing nonprofit entity.
The departure raises fresh questions about leadership, decentralization, and the future direction of Zcashโs development ecosystem.
ECC CEO Josh Swihart confirmed the collective resignation on X, pointing to a fundamental disagreement with the majority of the Bootstrap board of directors, the nonprofit body that governs ECC operations.
Bootstrap, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, was established to oversee ECC and support the broader Zcash ecosystem. According to Swihart, several board members were no longer aligned with Zcashโs original mission of building privacy-preserving digital money.
Despite the personnel changes, Swihart emphasized that the Zcash protocol itself remains fully operational and unaffected.
Claims of Constructive Discharge
In his statement, Swihart described the situation as a case of constructive discharge, explaining that changes imposed on employment terms made it impossible for the team to continue working effectively or ethically.
Under U.S. labor law, constructive discharge occurs when employees are effectively forced to resign due to hostile conditions or drastic alterations to their roles, even if no formal termination takes place.
Swihart stated that the former ECC developers are now forming a new company with the goal of continuing work on what he described as โunstoppable private money.โ
Leadership Turnover Adds to Ongoing Instability
This mass resignation follows a pattern of high-profile exits within the Zcash ecosystem over recent years. Swihart himself became CEO in December 2023, replacing longtime Zcash leader Zooko Wilcox, who stepped down after eight years.
Additional leadership changes included Peter Van Valkenburghโs resignation from the Zcash Foundation board in January 2025, further highlighting governance turbulence around the project.
Recent Reorganization Preceded the Exit
Just weeks before the resignations, ECC announced a company-wide reorganization on December 1. The restructuring merged protocol and mobile engineering teams under unified leadership and consolidated marketing and communications.
The stated goal was to streamline development, reduce internal friction, and better align engineering efforts with user-facing products such as the Zashi wallet.
Zcash Market Performance Amid Internal Turmoil
The organizational shake-up comes after a strong market rally for Zcash late last year. On November 7, ZEC briefly exceeded a $10 billion market capitalization, reclaiming a top-20 ranking among cryptocurrencies.
Prominent investor Arthur Hayes noted that ZEC had become the second-largest liquid holding in Maelstromโs portfolio after Bitcoin, posting gains of roughly 750% since October.
However, prices have since cooled. ZEC was recently trading near $456, down about 8% in the past 24 hours. While the token remains up roughly 11% over the past month, it is still more than 90% below its 2016 all-time high of $5,941.80.
What This Means for Zcash Going Forward
While Zcashโs core network continues to function, the departure of its primary development team introduces uncertainty around future upgrades, governance alignment, and ecosystem leadership.
The coming months will be critical in determining whether Zcash can maintain momentumโor whether this governance fracture marks a deeper structural challenge for privacy-focused blockchains.
