Zcash core team collectively resigns! The board is accused of malicious governance, ZEC plummets 20% to a new low

ECC CEO Josh Swihart announced on Wednesday that the entire team has collectively resigned, breaking ties with Bootstrap and accusing them of “malicious governance behavior.” Former CEO Zooko Wilcox, however, sided with the board, sparking a community split. The ZEC price plummeted nearly 20% to $395, halving from its November high last year.

Employment Terms Altered Triggering Collective Exit

In a statement posted on X, Swihart directly addressed the core issue: “Yesterday, the entire ECC team resigned. In short, our employment terms were changed in a way that prevents us from effectively and honestly fulfilling our responsibilities.” This statement hints that the Bootstrap board may have unilaterally modified ECC team’s working conditions or scope of authority, interfering with technical development and protocol maintenance.

Swihart explicitly named the majority of the Bootstrap board members—Zaki Manian, Christina Garman, Alan Fairless, and Michelle Lai (collectively ZCAM)—as having “clear disagreements” with the core mission of Zcash. Such public naming is extremely rare in crypto project governance conflicts, indicating that the dispute has become irreconcilable.

The collective resignation of the ECC team was not a sudden decision but a carefully considered collective action. Swihart emphasized that this decision was purely to protect the team’s work from “malicious governance behavior.” Such “malicious governance” may involve the board attempting to change Zcash’s technical roadmap, fund allocation, or development priorities, which fundamentally conflict with ECC’s technical vision.

More notably, Swihart announced that the team is founding a new company: “We are still the same team, with the same mission: to build an unstoppable privacy currency.” This suggests that the ECC team may fork Zcash’s open-source code or develop a brand-new privacy coin protocol, which could directly compete with Zcash’s future development.

Former CEO Zooko Wilcox’s Betrayal?

Amid this governance storm, the most dramatic turn comes from Zcash founder and former CEO Zooko Wilcox. Wilcox handed over the CEO role to Swihart in 2023. The public initially expected him to support his successor, but Wilcox instead publicly endorsed the Bootstrap board.

Wilcox posted on X: “I have worked with Alan Fairless, Zaki Manian, and Christina Garman for over 10 years, and with Michelle Lai for about 5 years. I have experienced many intense and difficult situations. Based on my experience, I believe they are all highly honorable people.” This statement not only vouches for the character of the board members but also indirectly questions Swihart’s accusations of “malicious governance.”

Wilcox also emphasized that the Zcash network will continue to operate normally: “Zcash is open-source, permissionless, secure, and private. Nothing happening in this conflict can change that. You can continue to use Zcash with confidence.” This “technological neutrality” stance attempts to separate governance conflict from protocol operation but also exposes the structural dilemma of open-source projects.

The public confrontation between the former and current CEOs is extremely rare in crypto history. Wilcox’s statement has sparked intense community discussion—some supporters feel he has betrayed his own successor, while others believe he, as the spiritual leader of Zcash, has a duty to maintain community stability. This split reflects not only personnel conflict but also deep ideological differences over privacy coin technical routes and governance philosophies.

ZEC Price Collapse and Market Confidence Crisis

ZEC has fallen nearly 20% in the past 24 hours, briefly dropping to $395 before slightly rebounding. This decline is extremely rare among mainstream privacy coins, indicating that market fears over governance conflict have turned into actual selling pressure. More seriously, ZEC’s price has halved from its November 8 high of $723 last year, erasing all gains from the privacy coin rebound at the end of last year.

The price surge last November was partly driven by support from industry figures like Arthur Hayes and optimistic expectations following the US elections for privacy assets. However, this internal split has dealt a severe blow to market confidence. Investors worry that losing the core development team will hinder Zcash’s technological innovation, and if ECC launches competing projects, it will further dilute Zcash’s market share.

Deeper issues reveal the fragility of open-source project governance. Although Wilcox emphasizes that the protocol will continue to operate, how will Zcash handle future technical challenges and regulatory pressures without a core development team’s long-term support? Who will be responsible for protocol upgrades and security maintenance? These unresolved questions make ZEC’s future price outlook highly uncertain.

Three Major Impacts of the Price Collapse

Short-term panic selling: Governance uncertainty triggers panic sell-off, nearly 20% drop to $395 in 24 hours

Long-term confidence: Halving from the November 723 USD high, indicating market pessimism about Zcash’s future

Competitive disadvantage: ECC team may launch competing projects, diluting Zcash’s technical advantages and market share

Open Source as a Double-Edged Sword

Swihart attempts to reassure the market, stating that the Zcash protocol itself will not be affected by the team’s departure and will continue normal operation. Since Zcash’s code is open and publicly available, no single company or entity owns the protocol. Anyone can run nodes, maintain forks, or submit code changes, so the network’s operation depends on the ongoing participation of miners, validators, and users.

However, this open-source characteristic is a double-edged sword for Zcash. On one hand, decentralization ensures protocol resilience—even if the entire ECC team leaves, the Zcash network can still run. On the other hand, when core contributors and governance structures have fundamental disagreements, the project risks a potentially fatal split.