Talking about gossip, Zcash is still a bit delicate. Where is its subtle aspect? The attitude of Zooko, the previous founder, towards this matter is also very subtle. Some friends may not know that one of the earliest (or core) founders of the Zcash chain is Zooko. Sometimes people even joke that the "Z" in Zcash comes from the "Z" in his name (of course, it actually comes from Zero, a zero knowledge proof). Then in 2020, Zcash made a sneaky move: they donated all their equity in the development company ECC (Electric Coin Company) to a board organization (the Bootstrap mentioned in the post). Bootstrap is equivalent to a non-profit organization, which makes it more convenient for them to carry out activities in the United States. I can understand this logic. In 2023, Zooko will step down as CEO of ECC and hand over this role to the "second generation" Josh. For example, Zooko counts as the "first generation" and Josh counts as the "second generation". Zooko has become a bit of a supreme emperor, just like Qianlong passed the throne to Jiaqing. He continued to hold a seat on the board of directors and withdrew from the development front line. And what about the conflict in the 26th year? Didn't the second generation resign with their team? And it's also a collective resignation. After resigning, he began to criticize the board of directors, saying that this is' ZCAM '- which sounds a lot like the English word' SCAM '(fraud). In my opinion, this is a rather serious accusation. But more subtly, he did not criticize Zooko. What does this feel like? Just like when you want to criticize a big leader, but instead of directly criticizing him, you criticize others around him - it's a bit like 'he didn't say anything, but he said it'. Then I asked Grok @ grok to investigate the interaction between first and second generation users on Twitter. Grok's conclusion is that the two have significant differences in their beliefs, even with a slight hostility, but still maintain respect on the surface. However, for Zooko, the departure of the second generation leader seems to be a lack of expression on the surface; But in fact, I saw him forwarding the statement from the board of directors. You said he doesn't take sides, on the surface it is; But in terms of actions, it is actually closer to clearly supporting the board of directors. So I would feel a little regretful. How can I describe it? A bit cunning, a rabbit dies, a lackey cooks; The feeling of a good bow hiding when all the birds are flying. I have seen many commercial companies do the same thing: after the company starts up, sometimes the CEO wants to remove the CTO and the development team together because the company thinks that technology is not that important. I suspect there may be a similar smell here as well. Another small piece of information that many people may not know is that Zcash has a "mining tax". 24 years ago, both the Mining Tax Foundation and ECC had shares, so the salary was estimated to be quite considerable in the past. But in 2024, they put forward a proposal: 12% of the mining tax would be directly deposited into the national treasury (pre deposited), and 8% would be granted as a grant. In this way, the cash flow/salary structure of ECC (the team led by the second generation) is likely to be affected. So I speculate that ECC has to consider commercializing the app more strongly - because if you want such a development team to continue running, it's all about money. But it's really hard for me to say which side my viewpoint is on. Emotionally, I definitely support the technology team led by the second generation, because for blockchain protocols, technology is indeed the most important. But from a common sense perspective, I may better understand the board of directors: if you operate a non-profit organization in the United States, you must comply with the non-profit laws and regulations of the United States. You cannot simply overturn principles for the sake of money or team income. In addition, Zooko's reputation over the years is also good; There are also many respected members in the board of directors, such as cryptographers, founders of other protocols, and so on. Zooko himself has also stated that he believes the board of directors are upright and loyal individuals. I think this matter could have been resolved through governance. For example, could you allocate some mining taxes to the development team? Anyway, mining taxes are still being collected. Give them some, at least don't let them keep worrying about app commercialization or have to take some compliance risks. After all, a clever woman cannot cook without rice, only with rice can she cook at home. So ultimately, it's still a matter of money (followed by laws and regulations). It is precisely because these things are stacked together that the relationship between the first generation and the second generation is particularly delicate.