Zcash Activates Ironwood Upgrade After Counterfeiting Scare
Zcash has activated Ironwood, an upgrade meant to prevent any counterfeit ZEC from ever entering circulation. It retires the old Orchard shielded pool, moves users to a new one, and adds accounting rules that ensure more coins cannot leave the old pool than were verifiably deposited, trapping any possible fake coins inside. The upgrade followed discovery of a four-year-old Orchard flaw that could have allowed counterfeit ZEC creation. Because shielded transactions hide details, it was impossible to tell whether the bug was ever exploited, which triggered a sharp selloff and questions about Zcash’s supply integrity. Ironwood was proposed as the fix and helped restore market value. The upgrade also adds quantum-resistant transaction records and a formally verified proof circuit. Critics warn the forced migration could temporarily weaken privacy by linking users’ IP addresses to balances unless they use tools like Tor or NymVPN.
