- Zcash developers this week quit from the project’s core development.
- The drama puts a veil of uncertainty over the project’s institutional adoption.
- The token lost its top spot to Monero.
The Zcash Foundation is attempting to quell the panic after the entire development team behind the privacy coin quit Electric Coin Company, the firm that created Zcash and has been leading its development since 2016, this week.
“The network’s resilience and future are not tied to any single organisation’s fate,” the Foundation said in a Thursday statement.
“Zcash is — and always has been — a decentralised, open-source protocol.”
Josh Swihart, formerly CEO of Electric Coin Company, said on Wednesday that the team “left after being constructively discharged” by the nonprofit board overseeing the company.
“In short, the terms of our employment were changed in ways that made it impossible for us to perform our duties effectively and with integrity,” Swihart wrote on X.
He added that the protocol was “unaffected” by the mass-exodus.
Swihart accused the board of the Electric Coin Company of “malicious governance actions” that conflicted with Zcash’s original mission — “building unstoppable private money.”
The drama is unravelling just as Zcash had taken a solid step forward. The project gained institutional backing from Coinbase, Andreessen Horowitz, and Galaxy Digital last year.
Moreover, the Winklevoss twins-backed privacy-focused company Cypherpunk deployed over $50 million into Zcash in November 2025. Grayscale also filed for a Zcash ETF the same month.
The token floundered this week as news of the disunity within the Zcash community came to light. Zcash plunged 15% in the past seven days, trading today at $475. The token was one of the biggest gainers of 2025 — notching a 770% price rally — as privacy became one of the reigning narratives last year.
The Zcash Foundation didn’t return requests for comment.
Monero marches ahead
One winner amid the chaos is Monero.
Last year, Zcash overtook Monero as the largest privacy coin by market cap.
But this week’s governance drama has allowed Monero to reclaim the top spot, now sitting as the 22nd largest cryptocurrency overall and the dominant privacy token on CoinGecko.
Whether Zcash can recover its momentum with a new development company remains to be seen.
Mathew Di Salvo is a news correspondent with DL News. Got a tip? Email atmdisalvo@dlnews.com.
Pedro Solimano is DL News’ markets correspondent. Got a tip? Email him at psolimano@dlnews.com.
