Privacy coin Zcash ZEC $405.2 24h volatility: 16.8% Market cap: $6.69 B Vol. 24h: $944.56 M price fell nearly 10% after the entire development team behind the blockchain resigned following a serious governance dispute. The sudden exit raised concerns among investors, even as former leaders said the network itself would continue operating without disruption.
Zcash Price Slides as Electric Coin Company Staff Walk Out
The drop of 10% in Zcash price followed confirmation that all employees of Electric Coin Company, the main developer of the Zcash protocol, had resigned.
Chief Executive Officer Josh Swihart said the departures were the result of ongoing conflict with the Bootstrap board, a nonprofit entity created to oversee the company and support the wider Zcash ecosystem.
According to Swihart, the board introduced changes to employment terms that made it impossible for the team to perform their duties effectively. He described the situation as constructive discharge, meaning the staff were forced to leave due to severe and unwanted changes to their working conditions.
Despite the mass resignation, the Zcash protocol itself remains unaffected. The departing developers are forming a new company to continue work on privacy-focused financial tools outside the current structure. No timeline has been given for when the new company will begin operations.
Over the past few weeks, it's become clear that the majority of Bootstrap board members (a 501(c)(3) nonprofit created to support Zcash by governing the Electric Coin Company), specifically Zaki Manian, Christina Garman, Alan Fairless, and Michelle Lai (ZCAM), have moved into…
— Josh Swihart 🛡 (@jswihart) January 7, 2026
Additionally, the decline also comes as asset management firm Bitwise filed an ETF application tied to Zcash. As a result of the resignation market response was immediate. Zcash price dropped to around $456, reversing part of the gains seen in recent weeks.
The pullback followed a strong November rally that briefly lifted ZEC to a $10 billion market value. As noted by Coinspeaker, upward momentum had continued into late December, including a 10% surge on Christmas Day after a whale purchase worth $13.25 million.
With this current price decline, market watchers are speculating a move into other privacy coins to protect funds.
