According to Happy Coin News, a split has occurred among members of the non-profit organization Bootstrap and the Electric Coin Company, with the Electric Coin Company team leaving the ZEC ecosystem development project due to disagreements with four members of Bootstrap's board of directors.

Josh Swihart, one of the developers who left, announced his plans to found a new company to issue "unstoppable private money." Apparently, this refers to the creation of an anonymous virtual currency to counter Zcash.

Swihart noted that the departure of the developers will not affect the ZEC protocol, and the blockchain will continue to function normally. However, a split among the developers is unlikely to benefit the cryptocurrency, which is experiencing a bearish market trend. After peaking at $746 in November 2025, the ZEC price has begun to decline, falling 39% from its peak.

In 2026, the downward trend continued, and the coin has already fallen by 11%. Furthermore, on January 8, the asset's price consolidated below the 800-hour moving average. According to Yuri Savelyev, leading analyst at Happy Coin News, this is a clear bearish signal, foreshadowing a significant drop in the cryptocurrency's price.