Gemini exchange founders Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss recently donated $1.2 million to the independent development organization Shielded Labs for privacy coin Zcash. The funds will be used to strengthen the security, ongoing operation, and scalability of the Zcash blockchain.

The timing is a bit delicate. Zcash's development ecosystem is undergoing a major upheaval — the entire technical team of the main developer Electric Coin Company resigned collectively on January 8 due to governance issues. This has had a significant impact on market confidence, with the ZEC token price plunging and currently around $365, hitting a new low since December.

Shielded Labs is an independently registered organization in Switzerland, operating separately from the Zcash Development Fund. After receiving this funding, they plan to focus on several core areas: creating a more stable network incentive mechanism, developing Crosslink hybrid consensus layer technology, and advancing a dynamic fee system. Notably, the Winklevoss brothers have now provided a second round of funding to Shielded Labs.