- The entire Electric Coin Company team behind Zcash has departed following governance changes.
- A new company will be formed to continue the same privacy-focused mission.
- The Zcash protocol remains unchanged despite leadership and governance upheaval.
Electric Coin Company, the longstanding development organization behind Zcash, is preparing to form a new company after a sudden and public split driven by governance disputes.
Public statements and reporting indicate that the entire Electric Coin Company team broke away from a prior organizational arrangement with Bootstrap, the nonprofit created to support Zcash.
Notably, the departure was not described as a routine resignation or a gradual transition.
Instead, company leadership characterized the situation as a breakdown in alignment that made continued work untenable.
This move marks a major turning point for one of the crypto industry’s most recognizable privacy-focused projects.
Zcash has long positioned itself as “private money,” and the organizational split highlights growing tensions between mission-driven teams and nonprofit governance structures.
Governance dispute at the heart of the split
At the core of the conflict is Bootstrap, the 501(c)(3) nonprofit established to support Zcash by overseeing Electric Coin Company.
Josh Swihart, CEO of Electric Coin Company, publicly stated that a majority of Bootstrap’s board had moved into clear misalignment with Zcash’s mission.
He specifically named Zaki Manian, Christina Garman, Alan Fairless, and Michelle Lai as central figures in that majority.
Swihart said recent board actions changed the team’s working conditions.
According to his account, those changes prevented the team from fulfilling its duties effectively and with integrity.
As a result, the entire team left after what Swihart described as constructive dismissal.
Constructive dismissal describes situations where working conditions change so drastically that employees are effectively forced to resign.
The framing suggests the split was driven more by governance decisions than by disagreements over technology or code.
The dispute also revealed confusion about roles and titles, with Swihart acknowledging that public listings identifying him as Bootstrap’s executive were out of date.
New entity, same mission
Despite the split, Swihart emphasized that the departing team is not abandoning its core vision.
He confirmed the former Electric Coin Company team intends to establish a new company.
The stated goal for the new entity remains building “unstoppable private money.”
That language reflects Zcash’s longstanding focus on privacy, resistance to censorship, and user sovereignty.
Importantly, Swihart and other figures stressed that the Zcash protocol itself is not affected by the organizational changes.
Zcash’s codebase is open source, and no single company owns or controls the network.
That distinction is critical for users and developers who care about continuity and security.
Former Electric Coin Company CEO and Zcash founder Zooko Wilcox defended the Bootstrap board and stated that Zcash remains permissionless, secure, and safe to use.
His response highlighted the extent to which leadership perspectives differ on the causes and consequences of the split.
Market reaction and ZEC price movement
ZEC, Zcash’s native token, fell sharply after the announcement.
At the time of reporting, Zcash traded around $443.38, a decline of about 10.3% for the day, erasing most of its December gains.
The price drop reflects uncertainty about governance, leadership stability, and future development direction.
Supporters of the departing team argued that separating from what they viewed as an adversarial governance structure could ultimately strengthen development.
They see forming a new company as a way to protect mission-driven work from nonprofit board dynamics.
Critics worry about fragmentation and loss of institutional continuity.
The episode underscores the broader challenges faced by decentralized projects that rely on hybrid structures combining nonprofits, companies, and open-source communities.
It highlights how governance disputes can create real risks for team cohesion, market confidence, and long-term project stability.
For now, the code and protocol remain open and operational, while the community watches how the new organizational arrangements will shape Zcash’s future.