The privacy-focused cryptocurrency Zcash saw its token fall by up to 25% in 24 hours after Electric Coin Company, one of its main development firms, said its entire team had left the project.

ECC framed the move not as a normal restructuring but as a forced departure, claiming that governance changes at the nonprofit that oversees it made ongoing work impossible.

ECC Accuses Board of “Malicious” Governance

ECC chief executive Josh Swihart said staff were “constructively discharged,” arguing that their employment terms changed so much that they could no longer perform their roles “effectively and with integrity,” Coindesk reported.

Swihart said a majority of board members at Bootstrap had moved into “clear misalignment” with what he described as Zcash’s mission.

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He added that ECC viewed recent decisions as “malicious governance actions” that blocked the company from carrying out its mandate under the current structure.

According to Swihart, the conflict escalated to the point where the team no longer believed it could maintain what it saw as the project’s principles while operating under Bootstrap’s oversight.

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He stressed that the Zcash protocol itself remains technically unaffected by the personnel shakeup, with the network continuing to function despite the loss of a key development group.

Following the departure, the former ECC team is forming a new company, which Swihart says will continue to focus on Zcash’s founding idea of “building unstoppable private money.”

Bootstrap Cites Nonprofit Law and Fiduciary Duty

Bootstrap, the 501(c)(3) nonprofit that provides governance oversight for ECC, cast the situation very differently in a statement following Swihart’s posts. The organization described the dispute as a governance and legal matter tied to its status as a public-benefit nonprofit under U.S. law.

It said the board had explored outside investment and alternative structures involving Zashi, a Zcash wallet project, but stressed that any deal had to comply with nonprofit rules and protect mission-owned assets from private capture.

For Zcash holders, the immediate impact is clear in the token’s price reaction, but the long-term effect will depend on how quickly the ecosystem reorganizes around new or existing development groups.

The protocol’s design and codebase remain in place, and other contributors can, in principle, step into roles that ECC previously filled. However, the loss of an experienced, cohesive team introduces execution risk around upgrades, maintenance and external partnerships.