The drama in the crypto market is always more exciting than the price fluctuations. ZEC suddenly plummeted from above $500 overnight to below $390, with a 24-hour drop of over 20%. Over $19 million in long positions were liquidated, and trading volume surged by 200%. Many friends are asking: is this another move by the whales?

Having observed the crypto space for many years, I think this time is different. The real culprit behind the sharp price decline is actually an internal storm within Zcash itself—the core development team leading the project’s technical direction, ECC, has collectively resigned.

Here’s what happened: former CEO Josh Swihart publicly criticized the Bootstrap board, claiming they faced "malicious governance," and said the work environment had become so toxic that they could no longer continue. More importantly, these people plan to establish a new project and continue development in the privacy coin field. These details have been confirmed through official channels, not rumors—founder Zooko also stepped forward, stating the need to maintain network security, making the positions of both sides very clear.

This open confrontation between the core team and the governance layer is like a ticking time bomb in the crypto ecosystem. The protocol itself is functioning fine, but the problem lies in people's trust. The project ultimately depends on the team to push forward and maintain it. Now that the main backbone has all left, holders naturally worry about the project's future direction. The market’s reaction was direct sell-offs—that’s the fundamental reason for the price decline.

From another perspective, this incident also exposes the fragility of governance structures in crypto projects. Once core personnel and management have disagreements, investor confidence can collapse instantly. The key to ZEC’s future now depends on whether a new governance framework can rally people’s trust again.