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Weekly Recap: Zcash Plunges After Core Team Resigns

Happy weekend, Defiers!

After a brisk start to the week, crypto markets gave up most of their gains by Friday after disappointing US employment data. BTC traded as high as $94,800 on Tuesday before slipping under $91,000 heading into the weekend.

Privacy coin Zcash lost nearly a quarter of its value this week amid a dispute between the core team and the nonprofit that supports the project, raising questions about its governance mechanisms.

In the first major exploit of 2026, nearly $26 million worth of ETH was drained from verification protocol Truebit, wiping out its TRU token.

Finally, we look back at how publicly traded companies began to treat cryptocurrencies as long-term investments in 2025.

Enjoy!

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Top Stories This Week

Zcash Plunges 20% After Entire Core Team Exits Amid Dispute

Zcash (ZEC) fell by as much as 20% after the entire development team announced it was leaving following a governance dispute tied to Bootstrap, a nonprofit that supports the project.

Truebit Hack Wipes Out TRU in First Major Exploit of 2026

Truebit suffered a roughly $26 million exploit on Thursday, marking the first major crypto hack of 2026. The attacker drained about 8,500 ETH from a smart contract linked to the blockchain verification protocol.

Crypto Markets Edge Lower After US Jobs Miss Expectations

Crypto markets ticked lower on Friday as new U.S. labor data showed the economy added far fewer jobs than expected in December.

Bitcoin (BTC) is trading near $91,000, while Ether (ETH) changes hands around $3,100.

How Digital Asset Treasuries Went Mainstream in 2025

In 2025, publicly traded companies increasingly began treating cryptocurrencies as core balance-sheet assets, rather than just speculative or experimental.

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That’s it for today — have a great weekend! If you enjoyed this newsletter, tell your friends! https://thedefiant.io/subscribe