Key facts
- Zcash price dropped 38% following disclosure of a critical counterfeiting vulnerability.
- The vulnerability was located in the Orchard pool and was active from May 2022.
- A hard fork on June 3, 2026, patched the vulnerability.
- Security researcher Taylor Hornby discovered the bug using AI-assisted methods.
- Zcash developers are considering a network upgrade with a new shielded pool and turnstile accounting.
Zcash experienced a 38% price crash after developers disclosed a critical counterfeiting vulnerability in its Orchard pool. The flaw, which allowed for the potential minting of unlimited, undetectable ZEC, was active from May 2022 until it was patched via an emergency hard fork on June 3, 2026. Security researcher Taylor Hornby, using AI-assisted audit methods including Anthropic's Opus 4.8 model, identified the bug. While the vulnerability was real, Shielded Labs cannot cryptographically prove if it was exploited before the fix, though they deem prior exploitation unlikely. In response, Zcash developers are considering a network upgrade with a new shielded pool and 'turnstile accounting' to enhance supply verification and restore confidence.