2026-01-09 08:26:01

Privacy coin ecosystem is once again making waves. Josh Swihart, the former CEO of Electric Coin Company (ECC), the core developer of Zcash, announced that he and a group of former ECC employees plan to establish a new company independently, developing a new wallet based on the existing Zashi wallet code — codenamed "cashZ."

Interestingly, there is a story behind Swihart's decision. He candidly stated on X: "Startups can grow rapidly, but non-profit organizations cannot." This remark may sound a bit harsh, but the logic he wanted to convey is clear — the new company's goal is to "bring Zcash to hundreds of millions of users" without being constrained by non-profit governance mechanisms, allowing for faster development of consumer-grade products.

The trigger for this split was on the side of Bootstrap. Bootstrap is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that nominally supports Zcash and oversees ECC. Swihart claims that the former team was "constructively dismissed" by Bootstrap's board, while Bootstrap's explanation is that the non-profit organization has legal and fiduciary restrictions that prevent approval of certain matters. Both sides have their reasons, but the result was the collective departure of the ECC team.

This split reflects the longstanding issues in Web3 project governance: the conflict between centralized teams and decentralized ideals, speed versus compliance, and commercial expansion versus community governance. The future developments of Zcash are worth watching.

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LiquidatedDreams

· 5h ago

Reusing Zash wallet code to develop new projects is a common tactic in crypto. To put it simply, the non-profit governance model is too slow, and commercial companies want rapid iteration. This contradiction has been evident for several years.

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MrRightClick

· 01-11 00:23

It's the same old story again. A group of people come out to talk about how ideals are blocked and efficiency is lacking, then they set up their own factions. Web3 keeps playing out like this repeatedly.

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RunWithRugs

· 01-09 08:56

Same old story again, the ECC team leaves, Bootstrap can't come up with new tricks... We've seen this kind of thing too many times in the crypto world. Where's the promised decentralization?

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GweiWatcher

· 01-09 08:55

It's another case of governance division... ECC's move this time is quite bold. Non-profit organizations are indeed slow to respond, but a direct "collective departure" is a bit harsh. Can cashZ survive?

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PancakeFlippa

· 01-09 08:45

Back at it with this set again? Non-profit organizations dragging down startup speed sounds reasonable but in reality it's still a power struggle. It's only a matter of time before ECC's team leaves; everyone wants rapid expansion. Could it be that decentralized governance itself is a false proposition? The Zcash privacy coin ecosystem seems to be fighting internally every day. Can cashZ become popular? It feels like just another fork coin story. Can Bootstrap really keep them in check? I remain skeptical. Speed and compliance are always at odds; choosing one side always invites criticism. By the way, Swihart's recent resignation stance is quite tough, directly confronting upper management. With such fierce competition in the privacy coin sector, does Zcash still have hope? Web3 governance is like this—when the core team causes trouble, the entire ecosystem gets chaotic.

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WhaleWatcher

· 01-09 08:44

It's that same "non-profit is too slow" excuse again... Basically, they just want to shed restrictions to play freely. Is Zcash about to split?

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NftDeepBreather

· 01-09 08:38

It's the same old trick again—non-profit governance hitting a bottleneck, and then a group of people just step out to work independently. Understandable, right? Who doesn't want to implement quickly?

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