Zcash drops after the entire team of Electric Coin Company, a core development firm behind the token, leaves

Zcash, the privacy-focused cryptocurrency, has shed roughly $1.2 billion of its market capitalization in the last 24 hours, with the token dropping 15% after the developers of Electric Coin Company left to start a new company, though they remain focused on the same mission. 

Electric Coin Company was formed in 2015 to jumpstart the privacy-focused zcash protocol, but on Wednesday, the entire team left due to a governance conflict with several board members of Bootstrap, the 501(c)(3) nonprofit aimed at governing Electric Coin Company and supporting the blockchain network, according to Josh Swihart, former Electric Coin Company CEO.

Bootstrap board members Zaki Manian, Christina Garman, Alan Fairless, and Michelle Lai “have moved into clear misalignment with the mission of Zcash,” Swihart wrote in a social media post. “In short, the terms of our employment were changed in ways that made it impossible for us to perform our duties effectively and with integrity.” 

Despite the move, Swihart said the protocol is unaffected. The former Electric Coin Company team is now founding a new company to protect their work from “malicious governance actions” and remain committed to “building unstoppable private money.”

Last year, the cryptocurrency’s price saw explosive growth, jumping nearly 780% from under $60 in January to over $510.