Overview
- CEO Josh Swihart said employees were "constructively discharged" after board-driven changes to employment terms made continued work impossible.
- The departing developers formed a for-profit startup called CashZ and plan to release a wallet named cashZ built on the Zashi codebase, with a public waitlist already open and migration promised for Zashi users in the coming weeks.
- Bootstrap’s board said privatizing Zashi risked donor lawsuits and broader ecosystem harm, framing its position as compliance with fiduciary duties under U.S. nonprofit law.
- ZEC fell by double digits following the resignations, with reports of declines around 18–21% before a partial rebound later on Thursday.
- Project leaders, including founder Zooko Wilcox, emphasized the open-source protocol remains secure and operational, though the ecosystem now faces uncertainty over future funding and coordination of core development.