Zcash developers are proposing a modern protected pool called Ironwood after a recently patched bug raised concerns that counterfeit ZEC could have entered circulation undetected.
Zcash Open Development Lab (ZODL) he said On Saturday, it is working with Tachyon, Valar Group, the Zcash Foundation and Shielded Labs on a proposed network modernization that would add formal verification and independent auditing to the Orchard Protocol, a privacy system that allows users to transfer ZEC without revealing transaction details.
The proposal would close Orchard’s current pool to modern deposits and internal transactions by requiring funds to pass through a “turnstile,” which serves as an accounting control point, before entering Ironwood.
The Zcash Foundation said Wednesday that auditors had discovered a vulnerability in its Orchard protected pool. The developers said there was no evidence that user funds were affected or that the total supply of Zcash changed.
Auditors at Shielded Labs said the vulnerability could have allowed attackers to create an infinite number of fraudulent ZECs in Orchard without detection.
Source: ZODL
Ironwood could demonstrate whether a counterfeit ZEC existed
In a separate post X, Shielded Labs he said Ironwood can provide evidence on whether the Orchard bug was ever exploited, although the proposal is not to prove the issue retroactively.
If users migrate from Orchard to Ironwood and no excess ZEC attempts to leave the aged pool, this will be powerful evidence that the vulnerability was never exploited, Shielded Labs claims. If excess ZEC tries to leave, the reel will reject it, effectively preventing counterfeit coins from entering the supply.
Related: Why did ZEC drop 40% even after Zcash patched the shielded pool bug?
This distinction has been a source of discussion among community members. Some questioned Can Zcash prove that the bug was not exploited without implying the existence of a backdoor. Others he argued that if Orchard becomes obsolete and funds can only escape through the turnstile, any surplus coins will be trapped even if they existed.
David Schwartz, former chief technology officer at Ripple, he said on X that if there were no exploits, users would remain safe and sound whether they transfer their coins or not. He said users remaining in the pool may feel “lonely” there, but their funds will remain safe and sound and accessible.
24 Hour Zcash Price Chart. Source: CoinGecko
At the time of writing, ZEC is trading at $429. It fell to $303 from more than $600 as investors reacted to the disclosure of the security flaw on Friday. According to this CoinGecko.
ZODL said it plans to activate Ironwood in tardy July 2026, pending testing, review and coordination across the Zcash ecosystem.
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