Zcash News Today: ZEC Slides 10% as Developer Exodus Sparks Fresh Governance Fears

Zcash (ZEC), the privacy-focused cryptocurrency, plunged by over 10% in the last 24 hours to reach $438 across major exchanges on Thursday.

The core catalyst appears to be the mass resignation of Zcash’s development team from the Electric Coin Company (ECC), the entity responsible for much of the protocol’s advancement.

Developer Exodus Raises Governance and Execution Risks for Zcash

ECC has historically played a central role in advancing the Zcash protocol, overseeing core engineering, cryptographic research, and long-term roadmap execution.

The resignations reportedly followed prolonged internal tensions related to funding sustainability, leadership direction, and the long-term development model for Zcash.

ECC has faced growing financial pressure due to a continuous decline in block rewards, prompting restructuring efforts that appear to have strained internal alignment.

Zcash’s value proposition relies heavily on ongoing innovation in zero-knowledge cryptography and privacy-preserving technology. Any disruption to that pipeline raises questions about upgrade timelines, maintenance responsibility, and ecosystem coordination.

As a result, traders have interpreted the departure of multiple senior developers as a structural shock, which ultimately led to the ZEC price dump in the last 24 hours.

ZEC Hints At 40% Crash Next

From a technical standpoint, Zcash appears to be breaking down from a short-term bear flag on the daily chart, reinforcing downside risks after the latest sell-off.

The pattern formed as ZEC consolidated inside an upward-sloping channel following its sharp December decline, typically a continuation setup rather than a reversal.

Price has now slipped below the flag’s lower trendline while trading under the 50-day exponential moving average (50-day EMA; the red wave) at around $453, weakening bullish structure.

If follow-through selling persists, the next major downside target sits near the $250-260 zone, down about 40% from the current price levels. The area further aligns with the 200-day EMA (the blue wave) and a prior high-volume support area.

Bull Case: Developer Continuity Could Revive ZEC Rally

Despite the sharp reaction, some analysts argue the market may be overpricing execution risk.

As noted by Budhil Vyas, the resignations do not imply an abandonment of Zcash’s mission. The same core developers are expected to continue building privacy-focused technology under a new structure, while the network itself remains fully operational and open source.

From this perspective, the sell-off reflects short-term uncertainty rather than fundamental decay. If development progress resumes smoothly and governance clarity improves, ZEC could stabilize and potentially rebound as investors refocus on privacy demand and long-term delivery.