Zcash Development Team ECC Simultaneously Resigns, Alleges Deviation from Project Mission by Governance Body

**January 8th Update: Electric Coin Company (ECC) Core Team Resigns, Plans New Entity to Safeguard Zcash Mission** Josh Swihart, CEO of ECC—Zcash’s (ZEC) core development firm—announced in a post Tuesday that the entire ECC team has left its original organizational structure and will form a new company. The move stems from concerns that Bootstrap, ECC’s governing 501(c)(3) nonprofit parent (responsible for overseeing ECC and supporting Zcash), has “clearly and consistently deviated” from Zcash’s core mission in its governance direction. Swihart noted that in recent weeks, most Bootstrap board members—including Zaki Manian, Christina Garman, Alan Fairless, and Michelle Lai of ZCAM—have taken actions that “significantly misalign” with Zcash’s original intent. All ECC members resigned yesterday due to what ZCAM implemented as a “constructive discharge”: unilaterally changing employment terms without direct termination, making it impossible for the team to fulfill their duties while upholding professional ethics and technical integrity. The ECC team will launch a new company with the same members and mission, continuing work on creating “unstoppable private money.” Notably, the Zcash protocol itself is unaffected. This is not a technical split or protocol-level conflict; it aims to protect ECC’s years of work from “malicious governance behavior.”