Zcash just plummeted 20% after its entire team walked out, exposing a boardroom battle over the project’s assets

Zcash (ZEC) prices plummeted nearly 20% on January 8th, becoming the top loser among major digital assets, driven by a severe governance conflict. The entire core development team from Electric Coin Company (ECC) abruptly resigned after their former CEO, Josh Swihart, claimed they were "constructively discharged" by the Bootstrap nonprofit board, alleging misalignment with the project's mission.

The Bootstrap board countered that the dispute centered on a proposal to privatize the 'Zashi' product, arguing that the proposed transaction violated fiduciary standards for charitable assets and invited regulatory scrutiny, drawing parallels to OpenAI's governance issues. Despite the turmoil, Zcash founder Zooko Wilcox-O'Hearn assured the community that the open-source protocol remains secure.

The sharp price decline was amplified by an overheated derivatives market, where leveraged positions were liquidated, exacerbating the drop. Furthermore, recent data showing a decrease in ZEC held in shielded pools had already created supply anxiety. However, some community figures remain bullish, viewing the ECC team's exit as a positive step, freeing them from the nonprofit structure to continue building Zcash, aligning with growing market interest in privacy infrastructure.

(Source：CryptoSlate)