Following a recent security vulnerability, the Zcash ecosystem has announced a new upgrade plan aimed at strengthening the network’s privacy and security infrastructure.
The new network upgrade and privacy pool called “Ironwood,” developed in collaboration with Zcash Open Development Lab (ZODL), Tachyon, Valar Group, Zcash Foundation, and Shielded Labs, is scheduled to be rolled out by the end of July 2026.
According to the announcement, Ironwood will be based on the existing Orchard protocol but will also include formal verification processes and independent security audits. The new system will also verify the ZEC supply transferred from the Orchard pool to Ironwood via a mechanism called “Turnstile.” This will make the total ZEC supply circulating on the network verifiable by everyone, increasing the transparency and security of the protocol.
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ZODL stated that the recently discovered Orchard integrity vulnerability was found during ongoing security investigations and addressed through a coordinated upgrade process. The organization asserted that there is no evidence of exploitation, user funds were not affected, and the total ZEC supply remained unchanged. The statement also clarified that the security issue did not impact the privacy features of privacy pools and that Orchard continues to function normally.
As part of the upgrade plan, the Orchard pool will no longer accept new deposits or intra-pool transfers. Users will only be able to transfer their existing assets to Ironwood via the Turnstile mechanism. Orchard-supported wallets will offer a one-click transfer feature to facilitate this transition process. Furthermore, users will not need to create a new receiving address; the Ironwood pool will continue to use their existing Orchard addresses.
On the other hand, ZODL is also working on more extensive changes to its network infrastructure. These include the phased phasing out of the old zcashd client, the development of the new command-line wallet Zallet, support for node operators migrating to the Zebrad client, and making wallets and software development kits (SDKs) compatible with the Ironwood upgrade.
*This is not investment advice.
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