• Monero (XMR) has impressively returned to the top spot among privacy coins.With a price of around 460 US dollars, the cryptocurrency was trading on Thursday within striking distance of its high of 490 US dollars marked at the end of December.The all-time high of around 542 US dollars is once again within reach.
• XMR continues to expand its market dominance in the privacy-focused assets sector and leaves the competition behind.The driving factor for this rotation is a massive slump in direct competitor Zcash (ZEC).
• The token temporarily plunged 20 percent on Thursday after it was announced that the entire Electric Coin Company (ECC) team had collectively resigned.The background is an escalated dispute with the board of the non-profit parent company “Bootstrap”.
• ECC CEO Josh Swihart spoke of a “constructive termination” by the board and announced that the developers would form a new company.This move injects enormous uncertainty into Zcash's roadmap.
• Questions about the short-term coordination and strategic direction of the protocol remain unanswered for now, driving investors to flee to safety.
• The development marks a sharp turnaround from the end of 2025, when Zcash was ahead due to new wallet integrations and narratives around surveillance protection, while Monero struggled with network stability concerns.A major block reorganization in September had fueled fears of mining centralization, but these were not confirmed in the long term.
• Now capital seems to be shifting in favor of Monero again.While ZEC gives back some of its gains from last year's rally and slips out of the top 20 tokens, XMR is solidifying its status as the most reliable security in the privacy segment.Investors currently seem to value Monero's technical stability more highly than Zcash's unclear governance future.

The current momentum has reversed the trend of the second half of 2025.Back then, investors preferred Zcash, while Monero was struggling with technical difficulties (major block restructuring) and criticism of the centralization of mining.

The situation has fundamentally changed: ZEC collapsed by 15% in one day after it was announced that the entire Electric Coin Company team had left the company.The company's CEO, Josh Suihart, justified this move by citing a conflict with the board of directors of parent company Bootstrap.

The developers are planning to create a new organization, but the team's sudden departure called into question the roadmap and coordination of Zcash's development.The uncertainty interrupted the asset's rally and triggered a sell-off.

The main reason for the disagreement was the attempt to monetize the protocol, including the “privatization” of the flagship wallet Zashi.The Bootstrap board blocked these initiatives for fear of legal and business risks.

The departed team has already announced the launch of an alternative wallet called CashZ based on the Zashi code and promised users an easy migration.

“Nonprofits deal with bureaucracy while tech startups rewrite the rules,” explained Suichart.

Santiment's data confirms the project's problems.Despite a 15-fold increase in ZEC's capitalization in the fall of 2025, developer activity has fallen to 2021 lows since November.