2026-01-09 09:33:25

Privacy coin sector faces another major incident. The entire development team of Electric Coin Company announced their collective departure today — this team has been the core force behind Zcash since 2016.

The list of departures is not small: about 25 people, including CEO Josh Swihart and Chief Scientist Chelsea Komlo. What is the trigger behind this? Disagreements within the Zcash Foundation Bootstrap Committee over governance issues.

The market reaction was very direct. The price of ZEC dropped 20% in response, with a $1.6B market cap evaporating within a day. What does this personnel shake-up mean for the privacy coin narrative? Is it a turning point or just a temporary pain?

ZEC-1,21%

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ser_we_are_ngmi

· 01-09 10:03

Damn, this time I really messed up. 25 people directly split? Can privacy coins still survive in this track? ZEC dropped 20% in one day, is this what they call technological evolution... LOL The governance issue is described so politely, but it's really just a power struggle. Now the privacy coin narrative is completely cooled off, nobody's buying it anymore. The ECC team has all left, it seems Zcash is hopeless. A governance disagreement can lead to a breakup, how big must the conflicts be? Do privacy coins still have a future? I'm really starting to doubt it. A 20% cut directly, the market's judgment is that fast. The core team of a project is gone like this, truly outrageous. Is this what Web3's "decentralized" governance is? Just a joke.

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BakedCatFanboy

· 01-09 10:03

Damn, 25 people running together? That’s so angry --- Zcash is really done for, and the privacy coin concept is also suffering --- I just want to know if the Bootstrap committee members are out of their minds --- A 20% drop is quite mild; I thought it would be cut in half --- The CEO has already left, what else can be done? This project is probably hopeless --- Laughing to death, governance disagreements can cause such chaos, it's ridiculous --- Privacy coins are already unpopular, and this time it’s even worse --- Why does it feel like all the development teams are breaking up lately? Is this an industry disease? --- Money is hidden so deep, yet governance is so chaotic? How ironic --- Zcash is basically the final blow to the privacy coin track

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ForkMonger

· 01-09 09:59

lmao zcash governance just speedran what most protocols take years to accomplish—total systemic collapse. 25 devs walking out isn't a glitch, it's a feature exposing how fragile these foundation structures really are

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MoonWaterDroplets

· 01-09 09:54

25 people run away, is Zcash really going to fail this time... --- Governance can't be managed, talent all leaves, is there still hope for privacy coins? --- A 20% drop in one day evaporates, this is what we call a confidence crisis --- Even the CEO has left, who still trusts this project... --- I think, privacy coins have always been plagued by internal conflicts, Zcash is just the next one --- It turns out the ECC team has completely turned against each other, the bootstrap committee should reflect on this --- The biggest fear in the crypto world is the core team leaving, ZEC probably can't be revived this time --- 25 people resigning collectively is no small matter, with no underlying developers left, how can maintenance be done... --- Privacy coins are really a tough track, once governance gets messy, it's the end --- I feel a bit sorry for the ECC development team, it's not their fault, but they have to take the blame

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