Key Insights:
- Zcash future faces uncertainty as developers exit following a board dispute.
- ZEC price adopts a steep decline after losing its footing above $500.
- Whales may be taking advantage of the discounted prices, and here’s how.
The Zcash crypto was one of the most promising privacy coins based on its recent performance, but the latest Zcash news challenges that notion. Recent reports revealed that there was trouble in paradise after an internal conflict erupted.
Recent Zcash news revealed that the entire developer team of the privacy coin has resigned. Preliminary reports revealed that the developers decided to exit the project after a dispute with the Bootstrap board. This non-profit organization oversees the privacy coin’s governance matters.
The Electric Coin Company (ECC) oversaw the Zcash crypto’s development. Its CEO, Josh Swihart, revealed that the team decided to resign after Bootstrap attempted to enforce a governance proposal that the ECC deemed to be detrimental.
The proposals would have reportedly undermined Zcash’s privacy and development goals. Reports also revealed that the ECC team of developers reportedly plans to form a new company. It’s hinting at another potential privacy coin in the works.
ZEC Price Tumbles as the ZCash Team Resigns
The Zcash news about the core development team’s exit has so far had a negative impact on the privacy coin’s price performance. ZEC price dropped by about 22% over the last two days, during which it slid from over $500 to less than $400.
Zcash crypto exchanged hands at $392 at the time of observation. This crash suggests that the ECC’s exit from the project raised uncertainty about its future.
The bearish price action highlights a U-turn compared to the bullish performance that the Zcash crypto achieved in the second half of 2025. The privacy coin jumped into the spotlight after an impressive rally that kicked off in late September last year.
For reference, ZEC price surged by over 1,000% between September and November. As a result, it became one of the best-performing cryptocurrencies in the second half of 2025.
That performance earned it a spot in the list of the most promising coins in 2026. However, this latest Zcash news suggests that its future may not be so clear-cut.
Could Whales Be Treating the Zcash Situation as an Opportunity?
Large order book flows suggest that whales may still be confident in Zcash’s upside potential. Whales acquired about $26 million worth of Zcash on the spot market, and most of it was on the Binance exchange.
Whales also executed substantial longs across multiple exchanges. For example, Zcash longs on Binance Perps pushed over $175 million, and approximately $23 million on OKX Perps.
In other words, the whales were taking advantage of discounted prices. This could signal that whales anticipate a recovery after the recent crash. However, the overall flows across the markets demonstrated robust sell pressure.
For example, spot net outflows pushed over $37 million in the last 24 hours. The privacy coin has experienced over $87 million worth of spot outflows during the last 3 days. Meanwhile, futures open interest decreased from $1.33 billion on December 29 to $1.03 billion at the time of observation.
Although whale activity indicates potential short-term relief, the fate of Zcash crypto remains uncertain after its developers exit.