- A critical bug in ZCash‘s Orchard privacy pool could have enabled double-spending, but was not exploited.
- Developers executed a two-stage emergency fix: a temporary soft fork to shut down Orchard transactions, followed by a permanent network upgrade.
- The total supply of ZEC was never at risk, and the network remained operational throughout the upgrade process.
- Zcash’s price, trading near $629, appears unaffected by the news, having risen over 53% in the last month.
The Zcash Foundation disclosed Wednesday that it quietly patched a critical flaw in the privacy cryptocurrency’s core transaction system, following a security researcher’s discovery of a bug that could have enabled bad actors to spend funds they didn’t have according to reports. The vulnerability was found May 29 in the Orchard Action circuit, the cryptographic machinery underpinning Zcash’s most advanced privacy pool.
Independent researcher Taylor Hornby disclosed the flaw to Zcash Open Development Lab engineers that same evening. Consequently, a team of protocol developers confirmed the issue and initiated a confidential, coordinated response to prevent exploitation.
The repair unfolded over five days, beginning with an emergency soft fork that temporarily shut down all Orchard transactions. This initial activation succeeded early Monday morning, halting activity at block 3,363,426. The permanent fix arrived Wednesday via a full network upgrade dubbed NU6.2, which restored functionality using a corrected circuit.
Officials stated the total supply of ZEC was never at risk, and no unauthorized coins were created. There is no evidence the bug was ever exploited. “Given the time available and the number of parties involved… this was the most ambitious network upgrade in Zcash’s history,” ZODL founder Josh Swihart wrote on X.
Meanwhile, speculation arose that the network had stopped producing blocks following the upgrade. However, experts clarified the chain itself kept running normally, with block explorers merely impacted as they upgraded their nodes data shows. The price of Zcash appears unaffected, continuing its upward swing with a recent price near $629.
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