Zcash (CRYPTO: ZEC) crashed 16% to $394 after the entire Electric Coin Company development team resigned on Wednesday.
What Happened Between ECC And Bootstrap
CEO Josh Swihart announced the mass resignation on X, stating the team was constructively discharged after Bootstrap changed employment terms in ways that prevented them from performing their duties effectively.
Swihart named four Bootstrap board members—Zaki Manian, Christina Garman, Alan Fairless, and Michelle Lai—as being misaligned with Zcash’s mission.
The team is forming a new company to continue development work on privacy-focused payments.
Bootstrap countered that the dispute centers on legal compliance, not mission alignment.
The nonprofit board said it was reviewing investment proposals involving Zashi, Zcash’s wallet project, but determined the deal structures could violate nonprofit law and expose the organization to donor lawsuits or regulatory scrutiny.
The conflicting statements suggest the core disagreement is over whether outside investment can be structured in a way that complies with Bootstrap’s 501(c)(3) status while advancing development.
That structural tension just cost Zcash its entire development team.
Leadership Instability Compounds Development Risk
The resignations follow a pattern of senior departures. Founder Zooko Wilcox stepped down as CEO in December 2023 after eight years.
Peter Van Valkenburgh left the Zcash Foundation board in January 2025. Swihart himself only took the CEO role 13 months ago.
ECC announced a major reorganization on December 1 to consolidate engineering teams and align development more closely with the Zashi wallet.
That reorganization lasted five weeks before the entire team quit.
The immediate development risk is real.
While Swihart stated the Zcash protocol itself is unaffected, the project now has no in-house development team and an active governance dispute with its nonprofit overseer.
ZEC Price Erases Entire Rally In Five Days
Price Prediction for ZEC By TradingView
ZEC collapsed 16% in a catastrophic session that shattered the symmetrical triangle pattern that had contained price for two months.
After peaking at $548 on Jan. 3—representing a 30% rally from the December low—ZEC gave back the entire gain in just five days, breaking decisively below the triangle’s lower boundary and the critical 0.236 Fibonacci support at $406.56.
ZEC crashed through multiple support levels: the 20 EMA at $474, 50 EMA at $451, and is now testing the 100 EMA at $388.89.
The Supertrend flipped bearish to $548.02, now acting as formidable overhead resistance.
The triangle breakdown typically projects a measured move equal to the pattern’s height, which could target $350-$360 or lower.
Upside targets: Must reclaim $406 (0.236 Fib) to stabilize. Beyond that, $451 (50 EMA), then $474 (0.382 Fib) and $522 (0.5 Fib). Clearing $548 would negate breakdown.
Downside risks: Support at $388 (100 EMA), then $350. Breaking $302 (November base) opens catastrophic decline toward $250-$280.
Image: Shutterstock
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