Zcash news

Zcash's next upgrade will replace the once-compromised Orchard pool and may offer clues about whether counterfeit tokens were created via a recent bug.

Zcash's ZEC token rose over 12% on Tuesday after developers said they are nearing a mathematical proof that the network's upcoming Ironwood shielded pool does not contain an undetectable counterfeiting bug. The vulnerability was disclosed last month in Zcash's Orchard pool, causing ZEC to drop more than 40%. Project Tachyon is leading the verification effort, leveraging AI-assisted proof generation to expedite the process. Unlike Bitcoin's transparent transactions, Zcash's shielded pools rely on zero-knowledge proofs that conceal amounts, making undetected counterfeiting a critical concern. Developers believe the earlier flaw was never exploited.

Zcash developers say the privacy-focused cryptocurrency's Ironwood upgrade is nearing testnet activation, aiming to restore confidence after a critical vulnerability disclosure caused ZEC to lose more than half its value. The upgrade introduces a new shielded pool and accounting system to allow anyone to verify the network's circulating supply while preserving privacy. Work continues on a formal proof of soundness before the upgrade, with testnet activation expected shortly. However, migrating exchanges, wallets, and mining pools to new software remains the biggest challenge, as some infrastructure providers need additional time. Developers are considering options like delaying Ironwood or conducting third-party security audits to reduce deployment risk.

Shielded Labs has warned that Zcash's Ironwood network upgrade may face delays due to insufficient preparation time for ecosystem participants like exchanges, mining pools, and wallets. The upgrade, proposed after an 'infinity' bug in the Orchard pool, aims to open a replacement pool and prevent new activity in the compromised one. The upgrade coincides with the migration from the longstanding zcashd software to a new Z3 stack, including Zebra, Zaino, and Zallet. Zallet and Zaino are still under development and not production-ready, leading to concerns about ecosystem readiness. No final decision on the delay has been made, while developers continue security reviews.

Sovright, the nonprofit successor to the Electric Coin Company, has released a wallet recovery tool called Argos to help early Zcash users recover funds stuck since the old ZEC Wallet Lite ceased maintenance in 2022. The tool works with old seed phrases and targets shielded addresses, with the amount of lost funds described as 'significant.' Argos is part of Sovright's broader effort to address long-standing issues in the Zcash ecosystem, including the recent launch of a privacy-preserving mining pool. Sovright, currently a three-person team formed from the former Bootstrap board, aims to strengthen the community by solving overlooked problems.

Digital Currency Group's Fortitude Mining, a Zcash miner, plans to merge with Nasdaq-listed HeartSciences Inc., sending HeartSciences shares up 55%. The deal aims to provide access to capital for Fortitude's mining operations, primarily focused on Zcash. DCG will own about 95% of the combined company. Fortitude CEO Andrea Childs emphasized the company is not a digital asset treasury play but an operating business. Despite Zcash's 60% plunge earlier this month after a vulnerability disclosure, Childs remains optimistic, forecasting Zcash could reach 10% of Bitcoin's market cap. Barry Silbert also expressed confidence in privacy-focused cryptocurrencies.

Fortitude Mining Holdings, a Zcash miner, will become publicly traded on Nasdaq via a reverse merger with medical tech firm HeartSciences. The all-stock deal will see Fortitude's management take control, and the combined company is expected to trade under the ticker TUDE, pending approval. HeartSciences, which develops AI cardiac diagnostics, has remained unprofitable with widening losses. Fortitude has provided little financial data but reported scaling annualized Zcash production to 157,000 ZEC as of May 31. HeartSciences shares surged up to 91% following the announcement.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has issued stricter guidelines requiring all licensed Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs) to implement robust due diligence before listing crypto assets, and banning privacy coins such as Monero and Zcash. The rules aim to promote financial stability and customer protection. Exchanges must conduct ongoing monitoring and set thresholds for delisting assets due to issues like loss of liquidity, insolvency, or security breaches. The move follows the SEC's licensing framework and offshore exchange blocks, tightening the Philippines' crypto regulatory environment.

Zcash founder Zooko Wilcox announced that an audit by Anthropic's Claude Mythos AI found no serious vulnerabilities in the Zcash protocol. The audit was requested by Shielded Labs, a nonprofit supporting Zcash development. The news follows a June 3 incident where Zcash temporarily suspended Orchard transactions due to a forgery bug discovered by security researcher Taylor Hornby using an earlier AI model. The vulnerability was fixed via emergency upgrade, with no evidence of exploitation or user impact. Meanwhile, the rise of advanced AI models is raising security concerns in crypto. Anthropic released the Claude Mythos model, which uncovered over 10,000 high-severity vulnerabilities in critical software. However, Anthropic later suspended access to the model due to US export control directives. Immunefi CEO Mitchell Amador warned that such AI models are fueling a 'vulnerability apocalypse' leading to increased DeFi hacks. Crypto hacks surged to $634 million in April 2026, the highest since the Bybit hack.

Zcash developers have finalized the Ironwood upgrade plan following a critical vulnerability in the Orchard shielded pool that could have allowed unlimited counterfeit ZEC minting. The upgrade introduces a new shielded pool using the Orchard protocol, with a flag to disable payments to the old pool while enabling change notes. Activation is targeted for late July. The upgrade leverages the existing turnstile mechanism to enforce a bound on the circulating supply of ZEC. It aims to protect users by routing new payments to the new pool and allowing migration from the old pool. The vulnerability disclosure caused ZEC's price to drop over 50% to around $303, but it has since recovered to $450.49.