Zcash Developer Electric Coin Company Team Exits later than Governance Breakdown
The entire team at Electric Coin Company (ECC), the core developer behind , has exited the organization following a governance dispute with the Bootstrap board, the nonprofit entity that overviews ECC.
In a statement, ECC CEO Josh Swihart the departure followed weeks of growing misalignment between the company and key members of the Bootstrap board, including Zaki Manian, Christina Garman, Alan Fairless, and Michelle Lai (ZCAM).
According to Swihart, the situation escalated into what he described as “constructive discharge,” a scenario in which changes to employment terms made it impossible for the team to continue working effectively or with integrity.
“Yesterday, the entire ECC team left later than being constructively discharged by ZCAM. 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 said.
Despite the exit, Swihart noted that the team is not abandoning its core objective. He revealed that the group is forming a new company and will continue pursuing the identical mission that originally guided its work at ECC.
“We’re founding a new company, but we’re still the identical team with the identical mission: building unstoppable private money,” he stated.
Swihart also emphasized that the Zcash protocol itself remains unaffected by the internal governance dispute, stressing that the decision was focused on protecting the team’s work rather than disrupting the network.
“significantly, the Zcash protocol is unaffected. 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,” he added.
The development marks a significant governance shift for the Zcash ecosystem, given ECC’s long-standing role in the protocol’s development and stewardship.
Bootstrap Cites Legal Constraints in ECC Team Exit
The Bootstrap board has on claims that mission misalignment was the cause of the ECC team’s departure and instead pointed to legal and fiduciary constraints tied to its nonprofit status.
In a statement responding to the exits, Bootstrap said it was “upsetdened by this outcome” but stressed that the dispute was not about Zcash’s mission.
Rather, the board said it stemmed from disagreements over proposed external investment and potential restructuring of Zashi, which it argued must comply with U.S. nonprofit law and protect assets intended for the public interest.
Bootstrap warned that the last proposed structure introduced legal and political risks that could expose Zcash to donor lawsuits and regulatory scrutiny, potentially jeopardizing the wider ecosystem.
The board said it had no discretion to ignore its 501(c)(3) obligations, adding that while for-profit structures can be effective, they must be pursued in a way that does not compromise the integrity of Zcash or the charitable assets supporting it.
This isn’t the first time there’s been a shift in governance, the board noted. Zooko Wilcox and Van Valkenburgh, core members, exited in 2023 and 2025.
, reacted negatively to the ECC team’s departure. In the past 24 hours, the asset declined 15% to $410.85, while 130% to $1.29 billion, suggesting strong bearish momentum and a risk of further decline.
