Zcash’s Original Builders Split from ECC, Echoing OpenAI and Anthropic Rift
Zcash's original builders have left the Electric Coin Company (ECC) to form ZODL, continuing development independently.Summary
The original engineers behind Zcash have formally separated from the Electric Coin Company (ECC) and established a new independent development entity called Zcash Open Development Lab (ZODL). This split follows a governance dispute with Bootstrap, the nonprofit that owns ECC, centered on control and future direction. The ZODL team, which includes the engineers who built Zcash's core privacy technology and the Zashi wallet, will continue to expand shielded ZEC adoption independently. The Zashi wallet is being rebranded as "Zodl" and remains compatible with the Zcash blockchain. ECC still exists but no longer employs the original development team, resulting in two organizational centers for Zcash development. This structural break mirrors similar splits seen in the AI sector, such as between OpenAI and Anthropic, highlighting the importance of developer continuity in decentralized ecosystems.
(Source：BeInCrypto)