Crypto
crypto
Sage D. Young

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.

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Yaël Bizouati-Kennedy
1h
Bitcoin gets a positive bounce following State of the Union

“This has been a silver lining, given the tumultuous time crypto markets have had over the past months and weeks, but it does not call for celebration just yet,” one expert warned.

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crypto
Sage D. Young

Crypto industry sees relief bounce in midst of winter

Crypto assets and crypto-adjacent companies are catching a bid and rebounding off recent lows, with stablecoin issuer Circle soaring after reporting strong earnings before the bell. The company beat on revenue and reported that USDC in circulation has grown to $75.3 billion, up 72% year over year.

The total market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies has increased 4.5% in the last 24 hours, and both tokens and companies close to crypto are enjoying a boost:

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Despite the relief bounce, some are still uneasy. “The whole market still seems very heavy to me,” Glenn Rosenberg, managing partner at Persistent Trading, told Sherwood News. “Jokingly, BTC feels like it’s now 100% correlated to any asset or news that’s negative! I think we test 60,000 — that’s a big long-term channel and could push lower from there,” he said. “The whole [space] looks risky right now.”

Sage D. Young
2/24/26
Ethereum nears key levels as macro repricing weighs on crypto industry

Around $315.6 million worth of leveraged long positions would be liquidated on Hyperliquid if the price of ethereum dropped to $1,350.

In hot water
Yaël Bizouati-Kennedy
Half-price sale
2/24/26
Bitcoin falls 50% from all-time high and on track for its worst month since June 2022

“The market is priced for catastrophe,” the head of research at Amberdata said.

Bitcoin?
crypto
Sage D. Young

Buterin’s sales, ETF outflow streak weigh on ethereum

The price of ethereum remains under pressure as ethereum cofounder Vitalik Buterin selling a tranche of his holdings and sustained spot ETF outflows act as headwinds for the second-largest cryptocurrency. 

Buterin sold $5.9 million worth of ethereum over the past several days after withdrawing 3,500 tokens from lending protocol Aave, on-chain data from blockchain analytics firm Arkham Intelligence shows. Since the beginning of the month, Buterin has reportedly sold 8,000 tokens.

Vitalik Buterin sells ethereum

“Historically, his sales have funded ecosystem development or philanthropy rather than signaling reduced conviction,” per Kelly Ye, deputy chief investment officer of Avenir Group. “It may create short-term sentiment pressure, but it’s not necessarily a structural negative — especially given his continued active role in building ethereum,” Ye told Sherwood News.

Meanwhile, spot ethereum ETFs recorded $123.4 million in outflows last week, marking the fifth consecutive week of outflows. In total, nearly $1.4 billion has exited from the funds during the stretch, data from SoSoValue shows. “ETF outflows reflect positioning and liquidity conditions more than protocol fundamentals. ETH is still being treated tactically by many allocators rather than as a core allocation,” Ye added.

The longest outflow streak for the investment vehicles is eight weeks, occurring between February and April 2025, when the cryptocurrency dropped from $2,200 to under $1,600. 

Still, pockets of demand persist. BitMine Immersion Technologies, the leading ethereum treasury firm, acquired roughly $100 million worth of tokens last week, according to a press release. 

“In the midst of this ‘mini crypto winter,’ our focus continues to be on methodically executing our treasury strategy and steadily acquiring ETH and in turn, optimizing the yield on our ETH holdings,” BitMine Chairman Tom Lee said in a statement.

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