Developer team shakeup: Core developers from Electric Coin Company (ECC) resigned to start a new company — this rattled markets and sparked governance concerns, contributing to recent price weakness.

Coindesk +1 $ZEC

Price reactions have been volatile, with slides of 10–16% in short periods due to sentiment shifts.

MEXC

Some forecasts still see potential upside if market conditions stabilize, citing privacy demand and technical patterns.

CoinDCX

🔜 Key Upcoming & Ongoing Updates

📌 Roadmap & Tech Enhancements

Latest roadmap elements for Q4 2025–early 2026 center on privacy, usability, and infrastructure upgrades:

Roadmap highlights include:

Shielded Swaps via NEAR Intents (Q1 2026) — enabling privacy-preserving cross-chain swaps and better DeFi integration.

CoinMarketCap

Zashi Wallet improvements — more intuitive shielded transactions and hardware wallet support (e.g., Keystone multisig).

CoinMarketCap

Reduced transaction spam & dynamic fees — network reliability and more predictable fee models.

CoinMarketCap

Future interoperability expansions — plans for bridges to Ethereum, Solana, and rollups like Ztarknet (mid-2026).

CoinMarketCap

These updates aim to boost privacy utility and real-world usability, not just price. Successful rollout could improve developer confidence and attract privacy-focused users.

CoinMarketCap

📉 Governance & Development Risks

The recent developer exodus raises governance questions for Zcash’s future roadmap stability. Investors may see hesitation or delays in big updates while the ecosystem reorganizes.

Coindesk

📈 Market Sentiment & Price Outlook

Some analysts and modeling sites suggest potential upside in 2026, with forecasts targeting higher resistance zones (~$500–$600) if momentum returns.

fxempire.com

Others warn ZEC is very sensitive to regulatory news and privacy coin scrutiny, which could keep price confined to a range until clearer adoption paths emerge $ZEC

ZEC
ZEC
402.67
-2.80%