Zcash Devs Rage Quit: ECC Team Resigns En Masse Over ‘Malicious Governance’
ZEC slides 7% as the entire Electric Coin Company team resigns, accusing the Bootstrap board of ‘malicious’ obstruction.
The entire Electric Coin Company (ECC) team, the core engineering unit behind Zcash (ZEC), resigned today, severing ties with its nonprofit parent, Bootstrap. The exodus marks the most severe governance crisis in the privacy coin’s history, sending ZEC tumbling 7% to $461 as the market digests the schism between the protocol’s builders and its overseers.
The Governance Implosion
ECC CEO Josh Swihart announced the collective resignation in a statement, citing “employment terms… changed in ways that made it impossible for us to perform our duties effectively and with integrity.” Swihart explicitly named the Bootstrap board members, Zaki Manian, Christina Garman, Alan Fairless, and Michelle Lai, accusing them of moving into “clear misalignment” with the Zcash mission.
This is not a standard corporate restructuring. It is a mutiny against the governance layer. The ECC team alleges the board engaged in “constructive dismissal,” unilaterally altering contracts to force compliance. In response, Swihart confirmed the team will reform under a new corporate entity to continue their work, bypassing the Bootstrap board entirely.
“This decision is simply about protecting our team’s work from malicious governance actions that have made it impossible to honor ECC’s original mission.”, Josh Swihart, ECC CEO
Founder vs. Builders
Adding to the chaos, Zcash founder and former CEO Zooko Wilcox broke silence to defend the very board the developers fled. Wilcox, who stepped down in late 2023, stated he believes the board members to be “people of exceptionally high integrity,” creating a rare and volatile dynamic: the founder backing the administrative layer against the active development team.
Market Reaction & Institutional Context
ZEC reacted violently, dropping to $461 (-7.07%) as volume spiked on Kraken and Binance. While Swihart emphasized that the Zcash protocol remains “unaffected” and operational, the market is repricing the risk of a fractured roadmap.
For institutional holders, the split raises immediate questions about the funding of future upgrades. With the ECC team effectively going rogue to preserve their autonomy, the path forward for Zcash governance is now uncharted territory. The protocol is safe; the organization is broken.
