Developers of privacy-focused Zcash have announced they’re already working on a new wallet for the cryptocurrency, less than a day after their high-profile exit from Electric Coin Company.
“The team from the Electric Coin Company that launched Zcash, and created the Zashi wallet, is now launching a new wallet for Zcash, using the same Zashi codebase we built,” said former ECC CEO Josh Swihart late on Thursday.
The code name for the wallet is cashZ and will be launched in a “few weeks,” he added. Users of the existing Zcash (ZEC) wallet, Zashi, will be able to migrate to the new one seamlessly. There were no other details about the new wallet.
The move comes just hours after the team exited ECC due to a clash over nonprofit rules and governance tensions.
Swihart reassured users of the privacy coin and wallet that “the entire team that worked at Electric Coin Company and built Zashi is still 100% focused on full-stack Zcash development.”
“We aren't launching any new coins, we're just scaling Zcash. To do that, it required that we leave and start a new Zcash-focused company.”
ZCash devs want to go back to cypherpunk roots
On the website, Swihart gave more reasons why the team decided to start a new company. “First, Zcash is cypherpunk, and we need an organization built around that understanding,” he said.
Related: Zcash backer Bootstrap says split due to clash over nonprofit rules, Zashi future
The second reason was alignment. Swihart argued that privacy in crypto is normal, just as it is with physical cash. Fighting for these rights requires an organization with courage and the ability to move quickly without bureaucratic constraints.
Nonprofits focus on rule-following while startups focus on innovation, Swihart said.
“Anyone who's been in crypto more than a few years knows that the entanglement of nonprofit foundations and tech startups has been the cause of endless drama.”
Thirdly, Zcash has experienced a rebirth over the past two years and is no longer a small project. To compete with Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH) and Solana (SOL), it needs an organizational structure built to scale rapidly.
ZEC shows minor recovery
The privacy token has dumped more than 21% since the upheaval, falling below $400 on Thursday.
ZEC saw a minor recovery after the announcement during early trading on Friday when it moved back to $430. However, the asset remains down 86% from its 2016 all-time high of $3,191 and is also down 38% from its 2025 high of just under $700, according to Coingecko.
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