Zcash (ZEC) Price: Developer Team Resignation Causes 20% Drop and $1.6B Market Cap Loss

TLDR

• Zcash (ZEC) dropped approximately 20% intraday in January 2026, losing around $1.6 billion in market capitalization during a single trading session.
• The entire Electric Coin Company (ECC) developer team resigned following a dispute with the Bootstrap board over governance proposals that allegedly undermined Zcash’s privacy and development goals.
• ZEC price fell from over $500 to around $392, with the coin trading at $421.77 at press time with a 12.45% decrease in rate.
• Despite the crash, whales acquired approximately $26 million worth of Zcash on spot markets and executed longs totaling over $175 million on Binance Perps.
• The ECC team reportedly plans to form a new company, hinting at another potential privacy coin in development.

Zcash experienced a sharp sell-off in January 2026 as reports emerged about the entire core development team stepping down from the project. The privacy coin lost approximately $1.6 billion in market capitalization during a single trading session.

The price declined from over $500 to around $392 within two days. At press time, ZEC traded at $421.77, representing a 12.45% decrease in rate.

The market cap reached $6.94 billion with trading volume hitting approximately $1.42 billion. Trading activity surged during the sell-off as sell orders flooded exchanges across the market.

The developer exodus followed a dispute between the Electric Coin Company (ECC) and the Bootstrap board. The Bootstrap organization oversees Zcash’s governance matters.

ECC CEO Josh Swihart stated that the team decided to resign after Bootstrap attempted to enforce governance proposals. The ECC deemed these proposals detrimental to the project.

The proposals would have reportedly undermined Zcash’s privacy and development goals. Reports indicated that the ECC team plans to form a new company, potentially developing another privacy coin.

Market Reaction and Technical Analysis

Cryptocurrency market followers, including Ash Crypto, first highlighted the heavy selling pressure following the resignation reports. ZEC lost around 20% intraday, wiping out approximately $1.6 billion in total market value.

Technical indicators show ZEC dropped below several short-term support levels. The TradingView chart reveals potential resistance at around $434.52.

If bullish pressure builds, the price could test the $450 range. If bearish momentum continues, support sits at $389.51.

A continued downside correction could drive the price to $375 or lower. The MACD indicator shows a bearish trend with the MACD line below the signal line.

The RSI indicator reads around 31.48, suggesting oversold conditions. CoinCodex data projects an average price of $471.99 and a maximum price of $568.71 for January 2026.

Whale Activity During Price Drop

Large order book flows suggest whales acquired approximately $26 million worth of Zcash on spot markets. Most purchases occurred on the Binance exchange.

Whales executed substantial longs across multiple exchanges. Zcash longs on Binance Perps pushed over $175 million.

Approximately $23 million in longs were placed on OKX Perps. This whale activity suggests some investors view the discounted prices as a buying opportunity.

However, overall market flows demonstrated strong sell pressure. Spot net outflows exceeded $37 million in the last 24 hours.

The privacy coin experienced over $87 million worth of spot outflows during the last three days. Futures open interest decreased from $1.33 billion on December 29 to $1.03 billion at the time of observation.

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