Zcash’s ECC, IOHK And ConsenSys Get Criticized For Using PPP Loans

Zcash’s ECC, (Electric Coin Company) IOHK and ConsenSys, are among the companies that got criticized by the crypto community for using PPP loans from the US Government, as we are reading further in the cryptocurrency news today.

Yeah Zooko is not the only one that got a bailout pic.twitter.com/fvnac95fnd

— Bitcoin Meme Hub 🔞 (@BitcoinMemeHub) July 10, 2020

Peter Todd questioned the ethics of the companies especially Zcash’s ECC as the company behind the popular privacy coin. Former Bitcoin Core developer Peter Todd criticized the development company for accepting a forgivable loan from the US Government, specifically the Paycheck Protection Program. He shared a screenshot of the US Treasury website showing ECC as one of the users of PPP loans:

“Zcash’s Electric Coin Company got a COVID-19 paycheck protection loan, between $350k and $1 million. On what basis though? How did COVID-19 affect a virtual currency? […]

Heh. At the very least, potentially committing fraud for a measly $350k is a bad sign… Surely Zcash isn’t *that* desperate for cash? I wouldn’t want to put a target on my back like that if I were running an anonymous cryptocurrency.”

The criticism for Zcash is that as an anonymous cryptocurrency that is designed to give users freedom and independence from government surveillance, should not accept any help from the government of the United States. His tweet caused a huge outcry in the crypto community with many of them sharing his view that it was not a good move for the Electric Coin Company to do. It is important to note that Zcash’s ECC is not the company that takes advantage of the PPP. About 100 different companies took advantage of the loans including ConsenSys, Shapeshift, IOHK, Polychain, and the TRON foundation.

The companies received an amount between $300,000 and $1,000,000 while few companies got some more, such as ConsenSys receiving between $5,000,000 and 10 million USD. The goal of the PPP program is to prevent layoffs, so crypto companies can be protected in a period of an epidemic. The crypto industry, therefore, received at least $42 million in loans. Also, other bitcoin maximalists criticized Zcash and other recipients of the loans. Max Keiser spoke loudly against crypto companies that accepted loans from the US government. According to him, this is against all efforts for decentralization.

If you took the PPP money you never understood #Bitcoin to begin with.

But that’s ok.

Just go away. And take that Shitcoin garbage outta here.

👍👍👍

— Max Keiser (@maxkeiser) July 7, 2020

The crypto industry was among the hardest-hit industries because of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, so many of the companies tried to get their hands on some government help and to protect their employees.