Zcash’s follow-up security sweep with Anthropic’s tools turned up no new critical problems, the project’s founder said Monday — a welcome result after a high-profile flaw forced an emergency response earlier this month.
What happened
- At Shielded Labs’ request, Anthropic ran a Mythos-powered audit of the Zcash protocol. Founder Zooko Wilcox posted on X on June 13 thanking Anthropic and saying the review “did not find any more serious bugs in the Zcash protocol.”
- The audit followed disclosure of a vulnerability in Orchard, Zcash’s primary shielded transaction pool, that Shielded Labs said could theoretically have allowed an attacker to mint unlimited counterfeit ZEC. Shielded Labs judged exploitation unlikely but acknowledged there is no cryptographic proof the bug was never used.
- The original issue was discovered on May 29 by security researcher Taylor Hornby during a targeted audit that used Anthropic’s Opus 4.8 model. Hornby reported the finding to the Zcash Open Development Lab, which coordinated an ecosystem-wide response.
How the network responded
- Developers deployed a soft fork to temporarily disable Orchard transactions while a fix was prepared under confidential review.
- A second update, the NU6.2 hard fork, went live on June 3 and removed the vulnerability, after which Orchard transactions were re-enabled.
- Following the fix, teams across the Zcash ecosystem — including the Zcash Foundation, Tachyon Group, Valar Group, Shielded Labs and the Zcash Open Development Lab — continued auditing and hardening the protocol.
What’s next
- Shielded Labs and collaborators are focused on additional security hardening and will publish more updates as that work progresses.
- Wilcox has also been pushing the proposed Ironwood upgrade, which he says would let users independently verify Zcash’s circulating supply by aggregating balances across active pools. Ironwood would add a new location for holding shielded ZEC, restrict certain transactions that could be used to introduce counterfeit coins, and incorporate additional security measures such as AI-assisted audits. The upgrade’s timing remains uncertain and will depend on further development and community discussions.
Market reaction
- The Orchard disclosure triggered a sharp sell-off: ZEC lost more than 50% of its value between June 4 and June 5, then briefly recovered to $478.70 on June 9 before sliding back to around $417 amid broader risk-off pressure tied to rising geopolitical tensions between the U.S. and Iran.
- Technicals on shorter timeframes show the recovery stalled: ZEC dropped back below the 38.2% Fibonacci retracement level at $418.60 and remains under Supertrend resistance near $465. Unless bulls reclaim the $465–$470 zone, the charts point to a potential retest of support near $355 (the 23.6% retracement). The MACD histogram has slipped back into negative territory after a brief positive blip, signaling cooling buying momentum.
Bottom line
The Anthropic audit provides a vote of confidence that no additional critical weaknesses remain following the Orchard incident, but Zcash contributors are keeping security work front and center. The community will be watching Ironwood and further audits closely, while markets continue to price in uncertainty.
Read more AI-generated news on: undefined/news
