Zashi Becomes Zodl: Zcash Wallet Rebrands Following Internal Split

Zashi, the flagship mobile wallet built by Zcash’s original engineering team, is rebranding to “Zodl” as its developers formally operate outside the Electric Coin Company (ECC) structure. The change matters less as a cosmetic refresh than as a signal: the same builders are continuing product work, but under a new corporate banner after a governance rupture that spilled into public view in early January.

Zcash Wallet Zashi Renamed Zodl

In a post on X dated Feb. 16, the wallet team said the next app update will rename Zashi to Zodl “without impacting the user experience,” stressing there is “no action required” from users. “It’s a new brand for a new chapter, but everything else stays the same: the wallet, the team behind it, and our commitment to Zcash,” the announcement read. “We’re moving forward with clarity and purpose, and this change reflects the building momentum.”

The post also tied the rebrand to a broader organizational reset. “In January of this year, the entire Electric Coin Company (ECC) team, the original creators of Zcash and Zashi, left ECC and formed a new company,” it said, naming the new entity Zcash Open Development Lab (ZODL) and positioning Zodl as the “Zcash flagship wallet.” The team framed the move as a way to pursue growth “without reliance on the Zcash development fund,” while keeping continuity on shipping and support.

On mission, the wallet team used language that will be familiar to long-time Zcash followers, explicitly anchoring the product roadmap to privacy-first payments. “We envision a world without mass financial surveillance. A world where law-abiding people can transact freely and privately, without fear that their data will be exploited or weaponized,” the post said. “There is no sovereignty without privacy. Our banner has changed, but our mission has not.”

The immediate practical effect for users is limited: the same app is expected to update in place, with branding changes rolling out across channels, including the Discord support presence. The more consequential change is governance and ownership context: the wallet is now explicitly presented as a product of ZODL rather than ECC, after weeks of public dispute about who could control, finance, and potentially commercialize consumer-facing efforts around Zashi.

The Background Story

The break traces back to a late-2025 clash between ECC leadership and Bootstrap, the 501(c)(3) nonprofit that governs ECC. In early January, former ECC CEO Josh Swihart said board actions left the team no viable path inside the existing structure. “Unfortunately, decisions made by four of Bootstrap’s board members forced every person at ECC to exit the company, very quickly,” Swihart wrote on the Zcash Community Forum on Jan. 9. “I wish we hadn’t been forced to move so quickly. But we had no choice. This is a serious matter. It is not a game. And as you see, the consequences, severe.”

Bootstrap, for its part, has argued the flashpoint was a proposed transaction to move Zashi into a for-profit structure and attract outside capital, which it says had to be handled as a related-party deal involving nonprofit-controlled assets.

In a public statement and accompanying timeline, Bootstrap described talks around external investment and “alternative structures to privatize Zashi” intensifying in late October 2025, then accelerating in December amid rushed deadlines, incomplete documentation, and legal constraints tied to nonprofit fiduciary duties. The timeline states that matters “rapidly escalated” around Dec. 20 when the board was presented with a Jan. 1 deadline to approve a deal, followed by leadership departures in early January and the broader team exit shortly after.

At press time, Zcash traded at $284.34.