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Zcash Fell 48% After a Critical Network Vulnerability Was Fixed
The price of Zcash ($ZEC) fell by 48% to $302.48 after a critical vulnerability was discovered in the protocol. The bug made it possible to create fake coins infinitely and invisibly.
Hourly $ZEC/USDT chart on the Binance exchange. Source: TradingView.
The issue in the anonymous Orchard pool was discovered by security engineer Taylor Hornby on 29 May.
— zooko🛡🦓🦓🦓 ⓩ (@zooko) June 4, 2026
To analyse the code, he used Anthropic’s Opus 4.8 AI model. Hornby managed to create a working bug that successfully generated tokens on the testnet.
Developers from Shielded Labs acknowledged that the problem had existed since Orchard was launched in May 2022. Due to the privacy features of the blockchain, it is impossible to determine exactly whether anyone had used this vulnerability over the past four years.
The Zcash team fixed the bug on 1 June. According to the developers, the vulnerability was unlikely to have been exploited in practice, as it was too difficult to find.
To restore trust, Shielded Labs proposed launching a new shielded pool. This would make it possible to verify the actual supply of $ZEC. The organisation also plans to conduct formal verification of the Orchard code to mathematically prove the absence of other bugs.
As a reminder, in May, the price of the privacy coin broke above $585 for the first time since November 2025.
