According to CoinMarketCap, the core development team behind Zcash left Electric Coin Company en masse on Wednesday following a governance dispute with its nonprofit board, and has formed a new startup focused on the privacy coin, marking a significant governance and development transition for ZEC traders to track. Source: CoinMarketCap via X, Jan 8, 2026.

According to Santiment, Zcash (ZEC) multiplied its market cap by roughly 15x between September 22 and November 16, 2025, before momentum cooled, which is critical context for assessing trend durability and liquidity risk. Source: Santiment on X, Jan 8, 2026. According to Santiment, ZEC has retraced about 40% over the past two months, highlighting rising downside volatility following the prior parabolic advance. Source: Santiment on X, Jan 8, 2026. According to Santiment, ZEC’s development activity has dropped to its lowest rate since November 2021, a level that the firm tracks via GitHub-derived metrics on its platform. Sources: Santiment on X, Jan 8, 2026; Santiment App dashboard: https://app.santiment.net/s/nPpat54l?utm_source=x&utm_medium=post&utm_campaign=x_zcash_development_activity_b_010826/&fpr=twitter. According to Santiment, projects with rising development activity historically tend to outperform peers, while declining activity often aligns with underperformance, making dev activity a key trading factor to monitor for ZEC. Sources: Santiment on X, Jan 8, 2026; Santiment methodology: https://medium.com/santiment/a-different-look-into-blockchain-ecosystem-development-activity-f34f32180482. According to Santiment, traders can track ZEC’s development trend in real time on the Santiment dashboard to gauge whether builder momentum reaccelerates or continues to lag, informing risk management around rallies and pullbacks. Sources: Santiment on X, Jan 8, 2026; Santiment App dashboard: https://app.santiment.net/s/nPpat54l?utm_source=x&utm_medium=post&utm_campaign=x_zcash_development_activity_b_010826/&fpr=twitter.

According to @balajis, Zcash can, must, and will scale, signaling a renewed focus on ZEC scalability. Source: @balajis on X, Jan 8, 2026. Josh Swihart stated they are all in on Zcash, need to scale Zcash to billions of users, and created a new Zcash startup because startups can scale while nonprofits cannot. Source: @jswihart on X, Jan 8, 2026. The announcement includes a link to cashz.org as the website for the newly announced Zcash startup. Source: @jswihart on X, Jan 8, 2026. For traders, the verified development is the public reveal of a startup dedicated to Zcash scaling, with an explicit goal of reaching billions of users. Source: @jswihart on X, Jan 8, 2026.

According to @Andre_Dragosch, he retweeted a claim from @ElonTrades that the entire ZEC developer team resigned, and the post provided no additional details or corroboration. Source: X/@Andre_Dragosch, Jan 8, 2026. Given this circulating post, traders may treat it as headline risk and watch ZEC spot and perpetual markets for volatility, liquidity gaps, and funding rate shifts following the claim. Source: X/@Andre_Dragosch, Jan 8, 2026.

According to the source, a governance clash in the Zcash ecosystem triggered a sell-off in ZEC, pressuring the token’s price as noted in a post on X dated Jan 8, 2026. The source also indicates the dispute may be smaller in scope than it appears, framing the headline-driven ZEC drop as potentially overstated in the same X post.

According to Lookonchain, two wallets (0x6ef9 and 0x089f) opened 1x long perpetual positions totaling 27,985 ZEC with USD 11.1M notional yesterday, as recorded on Hypurr perps. Source: Lookonchain; Hypurrscan. Those positions now show an unrealized loss exceeding USD 2.2M, highlighting sizable underwater ZEC long exposure in derivatives markets. Source: Lookonchain. The Hypurr perps pages for both addresses confirm the position size and current PnL. Source: Hypurrscan.

According to the source, Winklevoss-backed Cypherpunk Technologies purchased another 56,418 ZEC for roughly $29 million. According to the source, this increases its total ZEC holdings to 290,062 coins, equal to about 1.8% of Zcash’s circulating supply. Based on the source’s figures, the implied average acquisition price is approximately $514 per ZEC, which traders can use as a reference for positioning and liquidity planning. According to the source, the reported accumulation concentrates a notable share of ZEC supply, so traders may monitor order book depth, exchange reserves, and borrow rates on ZEC pairs for potential liquidity shifts and volatility around this whale activity.

According to @lookonchain, a newly created wallet withdrew 7,714 ZEC (about 4.12 million dollars) from Kraken roughly 10 hours ago, with the recipient shown on Arkham Intel as address t1XuMDRikwjCoJuHbT8azJ4rmvvfN4TZiVP, source: x.com/lookonchain/status/2005446570083529163 and intel.arkm.com/explorer/address/t1XuMDRikwjCoJuHbT8azJ4rmvvfN4TZiVP. Two newly created wallets also withdrew a combined 26,241 ZEC (about 13.5 million dollars) from Binance in the past 12 hours to addresses t1WuxQ3aaZHvNJzQLs8NHCMXzoC2pmuWxpF and t1KtX3hb63sCg2XxZZNA9HGyYP6deGNTHZy, source: x.com/lookonchain/status/2005083637767975183 and intel.arkm.com/explorer/address/t1WuxQ3aaZHvNJzQLs8NHCMXzoC2pmuWxpF and intel.arkm.com/explorer/address/t1KtX3hb63sCg2XxZZNA9HGyYP6deGNTHZy. That brings total reported ZEC outflows from these exchanges to 33,955 ZEC, approximately 17.62 million dollars based on the USD values reported by @lookonchain, source: x.com/lookonchain/status/2005446570083529163 and x.com/lookonchain/status/2005083637767975183. Traders monitor exchange inflow and outflow metrics to assess on-exchange supply and liquidity conditions when large withdrawals occur, source: academy.glassnode.com and blog.chainalysis.com.

According to @lookonchain, two newly created wallets withdrew 26,241 ZEC valued at $13.5M from Binance within the past 12 hours, source: @lookonchain on X dated Dec 28, 2025. The withdrawals correspond to addresses t1WuxQ3aaZHvNJzQLs8NHCMXzoC2pmuWxpF and t1KtX3hb63sCg2XxZZNA9HGyYP6deGNTHZy as shown on Arkham Intelligence explorers, source: intel.arkm.com/explorer/address/t1WuxQ3aaZHvNJzQLs8NHCMXzoC2pmuWxpF and intel.arkm.com/explorer/address/t1KtX3hb63sCg2XxZZNA9HGyYP6deGNTHZy. Traders tracking ZEC exchange reserves and on-chain flows should note this 12-hour outflow event for liquidity monitoring and order execution planning, source: @lookonchain for the outflow report and Arkham Intelligence for address-level data.

According to @OnchainLens, ZEC traded back above 500 USD as a whale holding a 3x ZEC long shows more than 5 million USD in unrealized profit, source: @OnchainLens; hyperbot.network/trader/0x6b26f66f460fd173b009d0c7a478ca400470e03f. Despite that profitable position, the same wallet’s overall portfolio remains at an unrealized loss exceeding 2 million USD, source: @OnchainLens; hyperbot.network/trader/0x6b26f66f460fd173b009d0c7a478ca400470e03f. Unrealized gains can reverse if the position is not closed, and 3x leverage increases liquidation risk on adverse moves—key for short-term ZEC traders to monitor, source: Binance Academy, What Is Leverage in Crypto Trading.

According to @ai_9684xtpa, the top ZEC long on Hyperliquid at address 0x6b2…0e03f shows USD 4.949M in unrealized profit with 48,000.89 ZEC valued at USD 24.62M and an average entry of USD 409.87 (source: @ai_9684xtpa citing hyperbot.network/trader/0x6b26f66f460fd173b009d0c7a478ca400470e03f). The same source notes roughly USD 80,000 in funding paid, a last add on Dec 15, and that ZEC later dipped to USD 371 without the position being cut (source: @ai_9684xtpa citing hyperbot.network). Traders can reference the USD 409.87 cost basis and USD 371 drawdown low when assessing ZEC derivatives positioning on Hyperliquid (source: @ai_9684xtpa).

According to Onchain Lens, a newly created wallet withdrew 50,000 ZEC, worth about $22.17 million, from Binance, with the recipient address reported as t1XKfbZYsdxR5HSnP25ee5VaAxgCNUtFkFK (source: Onchain Lens). Arkham Intelligence’s address explorer lists the recipient as a new Zcash address, supporting the classification of a newly created wallet (source: Arkham Intelligence). Based on the reported valuation, the transfer implies an average reference value of roughly $443 per ZEC at the time of reporting (source: Onchain Lens). Large exchange outflows are commonly tracked as signals of reduced immediate sell-side supply and potential accumulation by on-chain analysts (source: Glassnode Academy). Traders can monitor ZEC exchange reserves and netflow metrics to gauge liquidity and potential price impact following this withdrawal (source: CryptoQuant).

According to @lookonchain, a newly created wallet identified as t1XKfb withdrew 30,000 ZEC valued at approximately $13.25 million from Binance around 9 hours ago. Source: Lookonchain on X Dec 25, 2025; ARKM Explorer intel.arkm.com/explorer/address/t1XKfbZYsdxR5HSnP25ee5VaAxgCNUtFkFK According to @lookonchain, the alert includes the destination address for independent verification, enabling traders to confirm the on-chain movement and size of the withdrawal. Source: Lookonchain on X Dec 25, 2025; ARKM Explorer intel.arkm.com/explorer/address/t1XKfbZYsdxR5HSnP25ee5VaAxgCNUtFkFK

According to @lookonchain, a whale address labeled t1dHhe withdrew 202,077 ZEC valued at $91.43M from Binance about 16 hours ago, source: @lookonchain. According to @lookonchain, a second whale address labeled t1Nt2i withdrew 4,257 ZEC valued at $1.93M from Binance about 5 hours ago, source: @lookonchain. According to @lookonchain, the combined outflow totals 206,334 ZEC worth $93.36M from Binance within roughly 16 hours based on the two reported transactions, source: @lookonchain. According to @lookonchain, the addresses were referenced via Arkham Intelligence explorer in the report for on-chain context, source: @lookonchain.

According to @EmberCN, an address withdrew 202,077 $ZEC from Binance to an on-chain address about 13 hours ago, valued at approximately $88.28 million at a reported price of $437 per ZEC (source: @EmberCN, Dec 20, 2025). According to @EmberCN, $ZEC rose 12% today around the time of the reported withdrawal (source: @EmberCN, Dec 20, 2025). The source shared the destination address and asked whether this was whale or institutional accumulation, without identifying the owner or confirming intent (source: @EmberCN, Dec 20, 2025). Traders can monitor the posted address for subsequent movements and track ZEC exchange balances and spot order-book behavior near the $437 level to assess short-term liquidity and supply dynamics, noting that the buyer type remains unconfirmed (source: @EmberCN, Dec 20, 2025).

According to @RhythmicAnalyst, ZEC has risen 42% since a prior reference point, highlighting that traders need stronger trend education to avoid fading strength (source: @RhythmicAnalyst on X, Dec 9, 2025). The post frames the move as a momentum-led advance, implying that aligning with higher highs and higher lows likely outperformed counter-trend shorts during the rally (source: @RhythmicAnalyst on X, Dec 9, 2025). Actionable takeaway: validate real-time ZEC price and volume and favor pullback entries in the direction of the prevailing trend rather than calling tops, consistent with the author’s emphasis on trend literacy (source: @RhythmicAnalyst on X, Dec 9, 2025). Risk control: if momentum stalls, reassess bias and tighten stops due to potential volatility during rapid climbs (source: @RhythmicAnalyst on X, Dec 9, 2025).

According to Michaël van de Poppe (source: https://x.com/CryptoMichNL/status/1995886425963954303), ZEC has delivered no upward returns because peak hype at the top led to a sharp drop after long-side liquidity was taken out. According to the same source (https://x.com/CryptoMichNL/status/1995886425963954303), with long liquidity cleared, he sees potential for a bounce from the current region but emphasizes this is not a trend reversal. For trading, this implies ZEC is a tactical short-term bounce setup rather than a new uptrend, according to the same source (https://x.com/CryptoMichNL/status/1995886425963954303).

According to @CoinMarketCap, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin urged Zcash to resist token voting, warning that shifting away from its committee-based governance could erode the privacy coin’s core features, as highlighted in @CoinMarketCap’s X post. Zcash currently relies on committees and the Zcash Community Advisory Panel rather than coin-weighted voting for funding and roadmap decisions, as outlined by the Zcash Foundation’s governance documentation. Buterin has previously argued that coin voting can be vulnerable to plutocratic capture and short-termism, reinforcing his caution for ZEC governance, as detailed in his essay Moving beyond coin voting governance on the Vitalik Buterin blog. For traders, any move toward token voting would be a material governance catalyst for ZEC because it impacts treasury control and privacy roadmap oversight, making headline monitoring of Zcash proposals and foundation announcements prudent, based on the roles described by the Zcash Foundation and the signal flagged by @CoinMarketCap.

According to @ai_9684xtpa, ZEC fell back below USD 500, putting pressure on leveraged longs (source: @ai_9684xtpa). The largest ZEC long on Hyperliquid, address 0xcf9...95c0e, opened a 10x long on Nov 22 at an average entry of USD 574.864, now holding 20,386 ZEC worth about 9.79 million USD with an unrealized loss near 1.925 million USD and a peak drawdown above 2.42 million USD this morning, with no position reduction reported (source: @ai_9684xtpa; hyperbot.network/trader/0xcf90cfecf74e631feea816d02e757c0c8e895c0e). Traders can monitor this address on Hyperliquid to track positioning and potential liquidity impacts around the USD 500 level in ZEC derivatives (source: hyperbot.network/trader/0xcf90cfecf74e631feea816d02e757c0c8e895c0e).

According to @OnchainLens, a whale was completely liquidated on a ZEC long position as ZEC dropped, realizing a $1.59M loss. Source: @OnchainLens. According to @OnchainLens, the same wallet has lost a total of $2.39M across multiple positions and now holds $24K. Sources: @OnchainLens; CoinMarketMan Hypertracker wallet 0x9bf3ba9c1a41c78c424981ee7e12203347bf6cf9 app.coinmarketman.com/hypertracker/wallet/0x9bf3ba9c1a41c78c424981ee7e12203347bf6cf9.