Zcash weighs new shielded pool after counterfeiting flaw
Zcash developers and researchers are considering a new shielded pool to help restore confidence in supply integrity after an Orchard vulnerability was patched. Shielded Labs said it is exploring a network upgrade that would create a second shielded pool and add “turnstile accounting” for coins leaving Orchard, making fund outflows easier to verify. The proposal is still under review, and more details are expected next week. Josh Swihart said a second Orchard pool could potentially fit Zcash’s NU7 upgrade, though he has not taken a firm position. The issue began after an emergency upgrade fixed a bug that could have allowed counterfeit ZEC inside Orchard, with no cryptographic way to prove whether it had been exploited. After disclosure, ZEC dropped sharply. The incident also revived calls for formal verification, with developers arguing that mathematical proof of circuit correctness is the long-term answer to reducing human error in shielded protocols.
