Written by: KarenZ, Foresight News
After achieving a 1200% increase in 2025 and a comprehensive revival of privacy technology, Zcash stumbled badly in the quagmire of governance.
On January 8, 2026, Josh Swihart, the CEO of Electric Coin Company (ECC), which is the core development team of Zcash, announced that the entire ECC team was collectively forced to resign.
This was not a layoff, nor a reorganization, but a complete "collective escape." Following this, the price of ZEC dropped 20% in a short period, briefly falling below $400, and has since rebounded to above $440.
Who is the target?
According to Josh Swihart, this collective resignation was not voluntary but a passive "Constructive Discharge." This legal term refers to a situation where the employer creates a hostile or intolerable work environment or applies other forms of pressure or coercion, forcing employees to leave or resign.
Josh Swihart pointed the finger at Bootstrap—a nonprofit organization established under the U.S. 501(c)(3) provisions, which supports Zcash by managing Electric Coin Company.
Let’s first clarify the core attributes of a 501(c)(3) organization. Such organizations are recognized by the IRS as tax-exempt nonprofits, primarily established for specific public purposes such as religious, charitable, educational, scientific, or literary activities. Their income is exempt from federal income tax, and donations made to them can be deducted from personal income tax. Crucially, these organizations must adhere to strict regulations and cannot distribute profits to individuals.
"In recent weeks, the majority of the Bootstrap board members have clearly deviated from Zcash's core mission. They unilaterally altered employment terms, making it impossible for us to fulfill our work responsibilities," Josh Swihart defined this series of actions as malicious governance sabotage and simultaneously announced that to protect the team's research and development achievements and uphold Zcash's original intention, the original ECC team plans to establish an independent new company to continue advancing technology development.
The flashpoint of conflict: Privatization of the Zashi wallet
What was the trigger for this governance crisis?
The Bootstrap board subsequently responded, clarifying that the core disagreement lies in the privatization and commercialization plan for the Zashi wallet—Zcash's flagship mobile wallet, developed independently by ECC, around which both parties have developed irreconcilable differences regarding its future direction.
The ECC team advocates for the privatization of the Zashi wallet, introducing external capital and adopting a more flexible commercialization structure to accelerate technological iteration and ecological expansion. However, this plan has been firmly opposed by the Bootstrap board, which believes it poses significant legal risks.
From the perspective of the nonprofit organization, Bootstrap emphasizes that all assets under its name (including Zashi-related intellectual property) must serve the public interest and cannot be appropriated or transferred by private entities. If privatization proceeds, past donors to Bootstrap may file lawsuits on the grounds of "improper asset disposal"; the board also cited the case of OpenAI as a warning, where the transition from a nonprofit to a for-profit structure led to multiple lawsuits and regulatory investigations, a cautionary tale that should not be overlooked.
Essentially, the core of this game is a clash of two ideologies: ECC views the nonprofit structure as a "shackle" that restricts innovation and commercialization, yearning for a freer entrepreneurial space; while Bootstrap believes it is fulfilling its legal responsibilities, protecting public assets from private acquisition, and preventing legal and political risks.
Opportunities and fog for the new company
On January 9, Josh Swihart announced that the original ECC and Zashi development teams would launch a new Zcash wallet called "cashZ" based on the Zashi codebase, while promising that the original team would focus 100% on Zcash protocol development and would not issue any new tokens.
The cashZ website clarified the three core intentions behind the establishment of the new company: to uphold the cypherpunk origins of Zcash, to reshape the consistency of ecological development, and to promote the large-scale implementation of privacy technology. Josh Swihart repeatedly emphasized "cypherpunk spirit" and "privacy rights," positioning his team as defenders of idealism.
This could be an opportunity, but it also harbors unknown risks. The opportunity lies in the fact that, freed from the constraints of the nonprofit organization, the new team can flexibly engage in financing, make quick decisions, and boldly advance commercialization without compromising due to the board's risk aversion.
However, the challenges are equally severe: How will the new company's funding sources be secured? How will the legal relationship with the Zcash protocol be defined? How can trust in the team be rebuilt within the community? These questions urgently await answers from time.
How do the relevant parties view this?
Most intriguingly, Zcash co-founder Zooko Wilcox's statement is noteworthy. This legendary figure, who stepped down as ECC CEO at the end of 2023, chose an extremely subtle neutral position. His statement seems to indicate that he does not take sides. This may not be a simple black-and-white situation, but rather an inevitable eruption of structural contradictions.
The Zcash Foundation issued a statement on January 9, reiterating its commitment to maintaining Zcash as a decentralized open-source protocol. It emphasized that regardless of any organizational changes, the Zcash network, user assets, and privacy features remain unaffected. This statement is wise. In times of crisis, reaffirming the decentralized nature of the protocol is more stabilizing for community confidence than getting involved in organizational disputes.
Sean Bowe, a former ECC engineer who left ECC a year ago, stated that ECC is regrouping under a new structure. This will free it from the broken and misaligned nonprofit organizational framework of Bootstrap and continue building for Zcash. The potential contained within this is enormous.
Conclusion
The tumultuous start of Zcash in 2026 serves as a mirror for the entire industry.
It reminds us that while protocols can be decentralized, the organizations that maintain them often are not, or find it difficult to do so. We still have not found a perfect model that can simultaneously accommodate "the ideals of decentralization, the vitality of innovation, legal compliance, and sustainable funding."
In the tug-of-war between ideals and reality, in the balance between innovation and compliance, in the game between freedom and responsibility, the crypto industry continues to explore and move forward.
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