{"id":5402,"date":"2026-01-08T10:11:33","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T10:11:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?p=5402"},"modified":"2026-01-08T10:11:33","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T10:11:33","slug":"the-dev-company-behind-zcash-plans-to-start-a-new-company-after-split","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?p=5402","title":{"rendered":"The dev company behind Zcash plans to start a new company after split"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n\"The\n<\/picture> <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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  • The entire Electric Coin Company team behind Zcash development exited after governance changes.<\/li>\n
  • A new company will be formed to continue the same privacy-focused mission.<\/li>\n
  • The Zcash protocol remains unaffected despite leadership and governance turmoil.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Electric Coin Company, the long-standing development organisation behind Zcash, is preparing to start a new company following a sudden and highly public split tied to governance disputes.<\/p>\n

    According to public statements and reporting, the entire Electric Coin Company team has departed from its previous organisational arrangement with Bootstrap, the nonprofit created to support Zcash.<\/p>\n

    Notably, the exit was not framed as a routine resignation or gradual transition.<\/p>\n

    Instead, the company\u2019s leadership described the situation as a breakdown in alignment that made continued work impossible.<\/p>\n

    The move marks a major turning point for one of the cryptocurrency industry\u2019s most prominent privacy-focused projects.<\/p>\n

    Zcash has long positioned itself as \u201cprivate money,\u201d and the organisational fracture highlights growing tensions between mission-driven development teams and nonprofit governance structures.<\/p>\n

    Governance conflict at the centre of the split<\/h2>\n

    At the core of the dispute is Bootstrap, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit created to support Zcash by governing the Electric Coin Company.<\/p>\n

    Josh Swihart, CEO of Electric Coin Company, publicly stated that a majority of Bootstrap board members had moved into clear misalignment with the mission of Zcash.<\/p>\n

    He specifically named Zaki Manian, Christina Garman, Alan Fairless, and Michelle Lai as central figures in that majority.<\/p>\n

    Swihart said that over recent weeks, changes imposed by the board altered the terms of employment for the Electric Coin Company team.<\/p>\n

    Those changes, according to his account, made it impossible for the team to perform their duties effectively and with integrity.<\/p>\n

    As a result, the entire team left after what Swihart characterised as constructive discharge.<\/p>\n

    Constructive discharge refers to situations in which working conditions are changed so significantly that employees are effectively forced to resign.<\/p>\n

    The framing suggests the split was driven by governance actions rather than disagreements over technology or code.<\/p>\n

    The dispute also exposed confusion around roles and titles, with Swihart acknowledging that public listings showing him as executive director of Bootstrap were outdated.<\/p>\n

    A new company, but the same mission<\/h2>\n

    Despite the split, Swihart emphasised that the departing team is not abandoning its core vision.<\/p>\n

    He confirmed that the former Electric Coin Company team plans to found a new company.<\/p>\n

    The goal of that new entity, he said, remains building \u201cunstoppable private money.\u201d<\/p>\n

    This language mirrors Zcash\u2019s long-standing emphasis on privacy, censorship resistance, and user sovereignty.<\/p>\n

    Importantly, Swihart and other figures stressed that the Zcash protocol itself is unaffected by the organisational changes.<\/p>\n

    Zcash\u2019s codebase is open-source, and no single company owns or controls the network.<\/p>\n

    That distinction is critical for users and developers concerned about continuity and security.<\/p>\n

    Former Electric Coin Company CEO and Zcash founder Zooko Wilcox defended the Bootstrap board and stated that Zcash remains permissionless, secure, and safe to use.<\/p>\n

    His response highlighted the reality that leadership perspectives differ sharply on the causes and implications of the split.<\/p>\n

    Market reaction, Zcash price drops<\/h2>\n

    ZEC, the native token of the Zcash network, saw a notable price drop in the aftermath of the announcement.<\/p>\n

    At press time, Zcash was trading at around $443.38, down 10.3% in a day, eroding the majority of its December gains.<\/p>\n

    The price decline reflects uncertainty around governance, leadership stability, and future development direction.<\/p>\n

    At the same time, supporters of the departing team argued that separating from what they view as hostile governance may ultimately strengthen development.<\/p>\n

    They see the creation of a new company as a way to protect mission-driven work from nonprofit board dynamics.<\/p>\n

    Critics, however, worry about fragmentation and the loss of institutional continuity.<\/p>\n

    The episode underscores broader challenges facing decentralised projects that rely on hybrid structures combining nonprofits, companies, and open-source communities.<\/p>\n

    \u00a0<\/p>\n

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    Markets,Zcash News#dev #company #Zcash #plans #start #company #split1767867093<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The entire Electric Coin Company team behind Zcash development exited after governance changes. A new company will be formed to continue the same privacy-focused mission. The Zcash protocol remains unaffected despite leadership and governance turmoil. Electric Coin Company, the long-standing development organisation behind Zcash, is preparing to start a new company following a sudden and<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5403,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-5402","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-eurozone"},"yoast_head":"\nThe dev company behind Zcash plans to start a new company after split - Crypto News: Latest Cryptocurrency News and Analysis<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Electric Coin Company team has departed from its previous organizational arrangement with Bootstrap, the nonprofit created to support Zcash.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?p=5402\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The dev company behind Zcash plans to start a new company after split\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Electric Coin Company team has departed from its previous organizational arrangement with Bootstrap, the nonprofit created to support Zcash.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?p=5402\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Crypto News: Latest Cryptocurrency News and Analysis\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-01-08T10:11:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Zcash-dev-to-start-a-new-company.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"533\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"\u884c\u653f\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\u884c\u653f\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?p=5402\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?p=5402\",\"name\":\"The dev company behind Zcash plans to start a new company after split - 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