【ZEC 800% Surge After "Fatal Blow": ECC 25-Person Team Collective Resignation, 20% Single-Day Drop】

From late 2025 to early 2026, ZEC (Zcash token) experienced intense volatility: "price surge - core team departure - market plunge - new entity takes over":

1. Price fluctuation: In July 2024, ZEC was only $15; by November 7, 2025, it soared to $744, an 800% increase, with a market cap surpassing $10 billion, re-entering the top 20 cryptocurrencies by market value;

2. Team rupture: On January 7, 2026, the Zcash core development company ECC (about 25 people, including CEO Josh Swihart) collectively resigned. The core conflict was "Zashi wallet commercialization"—ECC wanted to privatize the default privacy Zashi wallet and introduce external investment, but ECC’s parent nonprofit organization Bootstrap, citing "legal risks and protecting donor interests," vetoed the plan. ECC claimed to have faced a "constructive dismissal";

3. Market impact: After the resignation news was announced, ZEC plummeted 20% in a single day, with market cap shrinking from $10 billion to $8 billion. CoinGecko data showed ZEC trading volume tripled compared to the previous day;

4. Follow-up actions: The day after resigning (January 8), the former ECC team announced the formation of a new company, CashZ, planning to launch a new wallet based on the Zashi codebase within weeks, supporting seamless migration for existing Zashi users;

5. Industry conflict: This incident exposed the widespread conflict in the crypto industry between "nonprofit structures and entrepreneurial team interests"—similar governance disputes previously caused controversy in Cosmos, Ethereum Foundation, and Solana Foundation.