Zcash Devs Build New Wallet After ECC Exit Amid Development Work Slowdown

Zcash developers are coming out of ECC to launch a wallet and company.

The developers behind the privacy-focused cryptocurrency Zcash have announced plans to launch a new wallet and create a new company focused on Zcash.

The latest development comes just a day after the group resigned en masse from the Electric Coin Company (ECC) following a management dispute.

New Wallet Push

Former ECC CEO Josh Swihart announced that the team responsible for launching Zcash and developing the Zashi wallet will now build a new Zcash wallet, codenamed cashZ, using the same Zashi codebase. He explained that the group is not launching a new token and remains fully focused on the development of Zcash. According to Swihart, the decision to leave ECC and form a new company is driven by the need to have a management structure that is better aligned with the goals of the ZEC ecosystem.

His tweet read,

“We’re all in Zcash. We need to scale Zcash to billions of users. Startups can scale, but nonprofits can’t. That’s why we created a new Zcash startup.”

Swihart identified three main reasons for the change. First, he said that Zcash is rooted in cypherpunk principles and needs leadership that is willing to actively protect privacy as the norm in the digital economy. Second, he argued that combining nonprofit foundations with fast-moving tech startups has historically led to miscommunication, while adding that a common startup structure allows teams and leadership to remain accountable and aligned. Third, Swihart said Zcash must be able to scale more to achieve its goal and move beyond niche adoption towards millions of potential users.

CryptoPotato previously reported that several Zcash developers were “constructively released” following internal management disputes.

The Fall of Dev Metrics

This announcement comes at a time when ZEC market performance and development seem to be diverging. According to blockchain analytics firm Santiment, the token saw a sharp resurgence in late 2025. Its market capitalization rose nearly 15 times between the end of September and mid-November. Since then, the price of ZEC has rebounded by 40% in the past two months.

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Amid price difficulties, Zcash’s development activity dropped to its lowest level since November 2021. Historically, the company said, stable or increasing development activity tends to be accompanied by strong long-term performance among major altcoins, while falling activity can indicate reduced innovation momentum.