Zcash rolled out its Ironwood network upgrade Tuesday, permanently sealing the chain’s previous primary private transaction pool, called Orchard, so that it can no longer accept deposits or internal transfers, and opening a private pool named Ironwood. More here 👇

Zcash’s Ironwood upgrade activates tomorrow, July 28 at 13:00 UTC, restoring the ability to independently verify ZEC’s circulating supply. The upgrade could also reveal whether a bug in the private Orchard pool was ever exploited to create counterfeit ZEC. As funds migrate to the new pool, every ZEC leaving Orchard will be counted. If withdrawals exceed total deposits, it would expose a supply discrepancy. On Derive, traders are positioning for volatility: near-term call exposure is concentrated at $625 for July 31, followed by $850, $900 and $1,000 calls in August.

Zcash Ecosystem Digest | July 19th 🔸Introducing @ZakuraZcash Full Node 🔸@ZcashFoundation Zebra 6.1.0 Release 🔸zcashd is Sunset 🌆 🔸Zcash at @internetarchive DWeb Camp 🔸ZecHub Hackathon Projects In-Review! Full Digest + Network Stats:

Zcash Ecosystem Digest | July 12th 🔸NU6.3 "Ironwood" Mainnet Activation Set - July 28th 🔸Zebra 6.0.0 Node Release 🔸ZODL Summit held in Prague 📅Upcoming Event: @ZcashGhana Financial Privacy Workshop 07/13 08:30 UTC Full Digest + Network Stats:

zcashd will reach its end-of-life service halt on July 18, as scheduled, completing the Zcash ecosystem's migration to Rust-based, next-generation Zcash client software. zcashd will not support NU6.3 (Ironwood). Node operators will need to complete their transition to Zebra and the ZODL-maintained Zallet wallet prior July 18. Only Zebra nodes will be on the peer-to-peer network from that time onward. We've successfully worked with and continue to assist partners in their migrations to bring the ecosystem forward. Zcash is upgrading.

Zcash Co-Founder Suggests Bitcoin Move Away From Fixed 21M Supply Cap and Grow 4% Annually Zcash co-founder Eli Ben-Sasson said on X that he questions the rationale behind Bitcoin’s fixed 21 million supply cap. He argued that private keys will continue to be lost over time and that, in the long run, all private keys will eventually be lost. Ben-Sasson said he supports a monetary policy with an “absolute cap,” but suggested adjusting the strategy, such as setting a fixed maximum issuance rate, for example 4% per year, to keep circulating supply aligned with human growth and ensure sufficient liquidity.

Zcash has unparalleled cryptographers, security engineers, and security researchers. And the community is heavily focused on continuous improvement and hardening the network. That's why it engages world class security researchers to look for bugs. And that's why the recent potential exploit was found. It wasn't by accident and it's a vote of confidence, not a cause for alarm. When it comes to any L1, there will be bugs. What's important is that there are world class researchers focused on hardening the network and staying ahead of the bad guys. This has always been and always will be the dynamic of building software that is secure. Onward.