Zcash Open Development Lab (ZODL) has raised over $25 million in seed funding. The new group, formed by the former core team of the Electric Coin Company (ECC), plans to expand development of the Zcash (ZEC) protocol and its privacy-focused self-custodial mobile wallet, Zodl.
The funding round saw participation from major investors including Paradigm, a16z crypto, Winklevoss Capital, and Coinbase Ventures.
ZODL was established by former ECC CEO Josh Swihart after the entire ECC engineering and product team resigned in January due to a governance dispute. The team aims to continue developing core Zcash software and tools independently.
A key focus is Zodl, formerly known as Zashi, a mobile wallet enabling shielded transactions that obscure sender, receiver, and transaction amounts using zero-knowledge cryptography. Since its 2024 launch, Zodl has reportedly increased activity in Zcash's shielded pool by over 400% and processed over $600 million in ZEC swaps since October.
The new capital will be used to hire engineers and accelerate development of products designed to simplify private digital payments. ECC continues its operations under the Bootstrap board, while ZODL now drives independent innovation for the Zcash network.
In parallel, the price of ZEC has seen an 8.8% increase in the last 24 hours, trading at $215, amidst a broader cryptocurrency market recovery.