The reason for the sudden drop in ZEC has been found! Zcash just crashed hard! The entire core development team at ECC has collectively resigned. Former CEO Josh Swihart blamed the Bootstrap board for 'malicious governance' on X, saying the work environment became unbearable, forcing him to 'constructively resign' and leave. Now the team is forming a new company to continue developing privacy-focused cryptocurrencies. The protocol itself is fine and still running stably, but this governance conflict has driven ZEC from over $500 down to around $380–390, a 20%+ drop in 24 hours, with trading volume spiking 200%, and long positions liquidated for $19 million—truly惨不忍睹. Was it manipulated by whales? Old K doesn't think so. This is a real official blowout, not rumors or FUD—former CEO posted directly, and Zooko (Zcash's founder) also publicly supported the board, citing cybersecurity concerns.
After searching X, no on-chain signs of whales dumping ahead of time were found. The selling pressure came uniformly after the news broke, clearly driven by panic and emotions.
Technically, RSI has dropped into oversold territory at 15, showing signs of potential rebound, but there's no indication of a premeditated large-scale accumulation followed by a pump-and-dump scheme.
Historically, ZEC has seen pump-and-dump events before, but this time it's purely negative. Liquidity remains decent, and no single whale can easily control the market.
Of course, there are always whales looking to pick up bargains in chaos, but so far, this appears to be a natural market reaction—governance collapse, loss of confidence, who would dare to buy the knife?
What's next?
Short-term (a few days to a week): Bearish momentum remains strong—continued downward pressure is likely, with a 40–50% chance of another drop of over 10%, potentially testing support at $300–$380. If $402 holds, a short squeeze rebound to $430–$450 might occur.
Medium to long-term: If the foundation and new team quickly release a clear plan, Zcash's privacy advantages remain strong (especially in a regulatory environment where privacy is truly valuable), and this could become an opportunity to 'start fresh'—like BTC’s past recovery, potentially rebounding later. Conversely, if 20–30% of developers leave, the roadmap stalls, and competition from privacy coins intensifies (Monero is watching closely), the price may continue grinding sideways in a $230–$450 range. Overall, if the broader crypto market rallies and BTC takes off, ZEC could also get a breathing space.
For those looking to dip in, wait for community updates and on-chain data—don’t rush to go all-in. In crypto, never all-in on emotions, brother.
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