On Wednesday, the Zcash Foundation said the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ended an inquiry without recommending enforcement, and that regulators first alerted the Virginia-based nonprofit in August 2023 about a review into the offering of digital assets, as the group stated.
The foundation framed the outcome as support for its goals and compliance, saying it remains focused on “advancing privacy-preserving financial infrastructure for the public good.”
The asset Zcash traded near $437, a roughly 12% one-day rise, and has nearly doubled over three months, according to market data.
The agency replied with its standard line, “The SEC does not comment on the existence or nonexistence of a possible investigation.”
Under new leadership after President Trump’s re-election, the SEC has shifted enforcement posture, stepping back from probes of crypto firms including Coinbase and Ripple.
A recent roundtable on surveillance and privacy hosted by SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce’s crypto task force included speaker Zooko Wilcox, who read his mother’s line that “financial surveillance makes us all a guinea pig.” (Ed. note: the existence of Wilcox’s earlier disclosure preceded the Foundation’s announcement.)
Mr. Wilcox has said regulators opened a probe against him and his former firm “for fraud.”
Earlier this month, employees left Electric Coin Company after CEO Josh Swihart said the team was “constructively fired” amid disputes with the pro-Zcash nonprofit Bootstrap, and said they would form a new company to continue “building unstoppable private money.” The next day the Zcash Foundation addressed the situation and said in a blog post said in a blog post that the network’s resilience is not tied to any single organization.
