**Zcash Price Plummets Following Entire Electric Coin Company Team Departure**
The price of Zcash has plunged by double digits after the entire team of the Electric Coin Company (ECC)—the creator and major contributor to the popular privacy coin—left the company. According to CoinGecko data, Zcash is down 18.2% in the past 24 hours, trading at $397.27. Over the past seven days, the cryptocurrency has dropped by 24%.
Despite this recent setback, Zcash enjoyed a remarkable year, with its price soaring over 670% amid growing mainstream interest in privacy-focused coins.
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**Team Departure and Internal Disputes**
In a tweet, Josh Swihart, former CEO of ECC, revealed that his entire team was “constructively discharged” following disagreements with the majority of Bootstrap’s board members. Bootstrap is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization created to support Zcash.
Swihart specified that board members Zaki Manian, Christina Garman, Alan Fairless, and Michelle Lai had “moved into clear misalignment with the mission of Zcash.” He further announced that he and his team plan to found a new company dedicated to building “unstoppable private money,” although no details about the new project—including its name, launch timeline, or the potential issuance of a new token—were provided.
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**Understanding Constructive Discharge**
In U.S. employment law, “constructive discharge” refers to a resignation classified as involuntary because the employer created a “hostile or intolerable work environment” or applied “forms of pressure or coercion” that forced the employee to leave.
Swihart reassured the community that the Zcash protocol itself “is unaffected” by the team’s departure. He emphasized that the decision was aimed at protecting their work from “malicious governance actions” that made it impossible to honor ECC’s original mission.
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**Remarks from Founding Members**
Zooko Wilcox-O’Hearn, founding member and former CEO of ECC, also commented on the situation via Twitter. He assured traders that users can “safely continue to use Zcash” and highlighted that the board members mentioned by Swihart are “people of exceptionally high integrity” based on his personal experience.
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**What is Zcash?**
Launched in 2016, Zcash is a privacy-centric cryptocurrency that encrypts transaction data to conceal details such as sender, recipient, and amount. It employs a cryptographic technique called zero-knowledge proofs, which offers enhanced privacy compared to cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.
Zcash does not own or control the Zcash blockchain. Its governance is decentralized, requiring community approval for all upgrades and changes.
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**Official Response from Bootstrap Board**
Bootstrap board members released an official statement providing background on the conflict. They explained recent discussions about external investment and alternative structures to privatize Zashi. Zashi is a crypto wallet developed by ECC, commonly used for transferring Zcash.
The board emphasized that any privatization efforts must comply with U.S. nonprofit law, align with the long-term mission of Zcash, and protect the wider Zcash community. They stressed that while there is nothing inherently wrong with for-profit ventures, such moves must include safeguards to prevent assets meant for public benefit—from donors trusting that mission—from being repurposed for private gain.
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**Concerns Over Proposed Deal**
The board expressed concerns that the proposed restructuring could introduce new vulnerabilities to politically motivated attacks on Zcash. They warned this might expose donors to lawsuits, potentially “jeopardizing the entire Zcash ecosystem.”
They added that a restructuring inviting legal scrutiny—even if well-intentioned—would damage the project’s credibility and hinder the advancement of privacy and financial freedom.
The statement referenced the example of OpenAI’s transition into a for-profit entity, which resulted in lawsuits from founding member and early investor Elon Musk.
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**Market Outlook and Predictions**
On prediction market Myriad, owned by Decrypt’s parent company Dastan, users currently assign a 51% chance that Zcash’s price will drop to $250, rather than rise to $550.
Market analyst Sawhney expressed skepticism about whether Zcash can maintain “sustained development and distribution under the current regulatory and market constraints.” However, he noted that if the recent split leads to clearer execution and funding, it could ultimately prove net-positive despite near-term uncertainty.
He also pointed out that privacy coins like Zcash are likely to continue facing a “policy risk discount” due to potential regulations and legal challenges. These risks could affect token prices, exchange listings, and institutional investments in the sector.
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**Conclusion**
The departure of the entire Electric Coin Company team has introduced short-term uncertainty for Zcash and its community. Nonetheless, the privacy coin’s decentralized governance and strong foundational technology remain intact, leaving the door open for recovery and future growth amid ongoing debates around privacy, regulation, and sustainable development.
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*Decrypt has reached out to the Electric Coin Company for further comment.*
https://bitcoinethereumnews.com/tech/zcash-plunges-double-digits-after-ecc-team-constructively-discharged/
