{"id":19508,"date":"2026-01-09T02:28:23","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T02:28:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/ex-zcash-devs-to-launch-cashz-wallet-after-mass-resignation\/"},"modified":"2026-01-09T02:28:42","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T02:28:42","slug":"ex-zcash-devs-to-launch-cashz-wallet-after-mass-resignation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/ex-zcash-devs-to-launch-cashz-wallet-after-mass-resignation\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-Zcash devs to launch CashZ wallet after mass resignation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div class=\"post-detail__content blocks\">\n<p class=\"is-style-lead\">The former Zcash development team is moving forward under a new company after a full resignation from Electric Coin Company, the entity that oversees the privacy project.<\/p>\n<div id=\"cn-block-summary-block_d8854da9169679ca69305390e5a10ff6\" class=\"cn-block-summary\">\n<div class=\"cn-block-summary__nav tabs\">\n        <span class=\"tabs__item is-selected\">Summary<\/span>\n    <\/div>\n<div class=\"cn-block-summary__content\">\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Former Electric Coin Company staff resigned and formed a new for-profit startup called CashZ.<\/li>\n<li>The team plans to launch a new Zcash wallet built from the existing Zashi codebase.<\/li>\n<li>Developers say the move allows faster development while staying focused on Zcash.<\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><!-- .cn-block-summary --><\/p>\n<p>The core development team behind Zcash\u2019s flagship wallet is preparing to relaunch its work under a new company after resigning en masse from Electric Coin Company.<\/p>\n<p>On Jan. 8, former ECC chief executive officer Josh Swihart <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/jswihart\/status\/2009323099154747639?s=46&amp;t=nznXkss3debX8JIhNzHmzw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">announced<\/a> the creation of a new for-profit startup, CashZ, formed by the same team that built the Zashi wallet and contributed to recent Zcash (ZEC) protocol development. The company plans to release a new Zcash wallet, code-named cashZ, using the existing Zashi codebase.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Why the team walked away from ECC<\/h2>\n<p>The move follows what Swihart described as a \u201cconstructive discharge\u201d stemming from disputes with Bootstrap, the nonprofit that oversees ECC. According to Swihart, changes imposed by a majority of Bootstrap\u2019s board made it impossible for the team to continue operating effectively within the nonprofit structure.<\/p>\n<p>Despite the split, Swihart emphasized that the team remains fully committed to Zcash. No new token is being launched, and the group says its sole focus is scaling Zcash adoption rather than building a separate ecosystem.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">We are all in on Zcash.<br \/>We need to scale Zcash to billions of users.<br \/>Startups can scale, but nonprofits can&#8217;t.<br \/>That&#8217;s why we created a new Zcash startup.<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/ZurjfTxnPi\">https:\/\/t.co\/ZurjfTxnPi<\/a> <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/ksnwLewpPp\">pic.twitter.com\/ksnwLewpPp<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Josh Swihart \ud83d\udee1 (@jswihart) <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/jswihart\/status\/2009323099154747639?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">January 8, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>    <!-- .cn-block-related-link --><\/p>\n<p>In a lengthy public statement, Swihart argued that nonprofit governance has become a limiting factor for fast-moving crypto development teams. He said startups are better suited to execute, raise capital, and remain aligned around clear incentives, particularly as regulatory pressure on non-profit entities increases.<\/p>\n<p>He framed the transition as a structural change rather than an ideological break, noting that the Zcash protocol itself is open source and unaffected by the team\u2019s departure. Development, he said, will continue under the new company with the same technical goals.<\/p>\n<p>The cashZ wallet will be a direct continuation of Zashi. Existing Zashi users will be able to migrate with minimal friction once the new wallet goes live, according to the company. A public waitlist is already open.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Market reaction and broader context<\/h2>\n<p>ZEC prices responded swiftly to the news of the resignation. The market fell for a short while as confusion and rumors circulated on social media, with some users even claiming the project had been abandoned.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Later, the team stepped in to clarify the situation, re-assuring investors that Zcash\u2019s development is still moving forward under a different structure.<\/p>\n<p>This episode reflects a common struggle in crypto. Foundations tend to move slowly, while startups move fast. Zcash has seen real technical progress in recent months. Still, the CashZ launch shows that how a project is organized can matter more than the protocol itself when it comes to scaling.<\/p>\n<p>    <!-- .cn-block-related-link --><\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The former Zcash development team is moving forward under a new company after a full resignation from Electric Coin Company, the entity that oversees the privacy project. Summary Former Electric&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19509,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cryptocurrency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19508","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19508"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19508\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19510,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19508\/revisions\/19510"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19509"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}