According to @PANewsCN, Helius Labs CEO Mert stated he is assembling a new independent core team for Zcash focused on scalability and security, describing it as a 'Manhattan Project' for privacy money (source: @PANewsCN post; @0xMert_ X post, Oct 27, 2025). The initiative is actively hiring a CEO, a chief engineer, and researchers, indicating near-term team buildout activity (source: @PANewsCN post; @0xMert_ X post, Oct 27, 2025). No technical roadmap, timelines, or specifications were provided in the announcement, leaving delivery dates undisclosed at this stage (source: @0xMert_ X post, Oct 27, 2025). ZEC is the native asset of the Zcash network, where protocol-level development efforts underpin future network upgrades and performance changes tracked by market participants (source: Zcash official documentation by Electric Coin Co. and Zcash Foundation).