Zcash Developer Electric Coin Co. Reveals Q1 Financial Loss

The Electric Coin Company (ECC), the for-profit company that supports the development of the zcash cryptocurrency has issued its Q3 transparency report, revealing it has so far avoided layoffs during the bear market despite financial losses.

According to the report, the company ran an average monthly deficit of 30 percent in Q1. The ECC took in $449,000 per month while expenses averaged $635,000.

In a July letter, EEC CEO and Zcash co-founder Zooko Wilcox said the company had successfully navigated the bear market, which saw multiple teams cut staff or close up shop entirely. According to the company’s profile on Linkedin, the ECC currently has 19 employees.

Launched in 2016 without an initial coin offering, new cryptocurrency created by the protocol has since been divided between miners, the Zcash Foundation, the ECC and certain founders as well as employees.

As of today’s mining schedule, 80 percent of the block reward goes toward miners with the remainder dispersed as a “Founder’s Reward.”

At an average of $55 per coin, the ECC made $336,900 per month on block rewards alone in Q1. Expenses hit $525,000 for the company plus another $110,000 per month for employees over the same period.

Due to the deficit, the report states the ECC cut costs in numerous non-critical areas like PR, trademark protection and engineering. The ECC also approached Founder’s Reward recipients to reallocate funds for the ECC in June.

As mentioned, the report comes a month after Wilcox’s open letter to the Zcash community. The development fund is set to run dry in October 2020, which would slash funding for the ECC. In the letter, Wilcox called for a new development fund for the company.

The ECC did not respond to questions for comment by press time.

Zooko Wilcox image via CoinDesk archives