Zooko Wilcox Steps Down as CEO of Electric Coin Company, Josh Swihart to Succeed

According to Blockworks, Zooko Wilcox is stepping down as CEO of Electric Coin Company, the organization responsible for the development of Zcash. Josh Swihart, former senior vice president of growth, will succeed Wilcox as the new CEO. Electric Coin Co. was established in 2015 with Wilcox leading the company to develop Zcash, a privacy-focused cryptocurrency that debuted in 2016. Zcash uses opt-in shielded addresses and zk-SNARKs to protect users' financial information, unlike Bitcoin, where transactions are publicly recorded on the blockchain. In a blog post, Wilcox explained that his identity became intertwined with Zcash during his tenure as CEO, which he believes is unhealthy for both him and the cryptocurrency. He stated that Zcash's role in human history will be much larger than any individual. Wilcox will remain as director of the board of the Bootstrap Project, Electric Coin Co's parent company. In a separate blog post, Swihart outlined his near-term priorities as CEO, which include iterating more quickly, increasing Zcash's utility, and ensuring Electric Coin Company's financial sustainability.