In Zcash’s latest privacy transaction pool, Orchard, ZEC could theoretically be infinitely forged (counterfeited), and due to Orchard’s privacy protections, such counterfeiting would be nearly undetectable on-chain. The vulnerability remained undiscovered from Orchard’s launch in 2022 until May 29, 2026, and was patched via an emergency network upgrade on June 1–2. Has anyone successfully forged coins? It’s dangerous—but the Zcash team (Shielded Labs) believes it’s highly unlikely anyone exploited it, for three reasons: 1. The bug went undetected for four years, indicating extremely high technical barriers. 2. They proactively sought it out, hiring top experts and deploying cutting-edge AI to hunt for vulnerabilities, rather than waiting for hackers to find them. 3. They responded swiftly, patching the flaw within days. However, due to Orchard’s privacy features, it is impossible to cryptographically prove with 100% certainty that no counterfeiting occurred in the past—this remains the greatest uncertainty. Current actions taken: • Fixed: An emergency network upgrade has been completed, and Orchard transactions are now restored. • Next step: A further network upgrade is planned to enable anyone to publicly verify that “Zcash’s total supply is legitimate and no one has secretly minted extra coins.” The solution involves introducing a new pool and implementing “turnstile accounting” to audit all transfers originating from Orchard.