Zcash Proposes Ironwood Shielded Pool After Orchard Bug

Zcash developers are proposing a new shielded pool called Ironwood after a recently patched bug raised concerns that counterfeit ZEC could have entered circulation. The Zcash Open Development Lab said it is working with Tachyon, Valar Group, the Zcash Foundation and Shielded Labs on the upgrade, which would add formal verification and independent audits to Orchard, the privacy protocol that lets users move ZEC without revealing transaction details.

The proposal would close the current Orchard pool to new deposits and internal transactions and require funds to pass through a “turnstile,” an accounting checkpoint, before entering Ironwood. Auditors discovered a vulnerability in Orchard. Developers said there was no evidence user funds were affected or that Zcash’s total supply changed, but Shielded Labs warned the flaw could have allowed attackers to create an infinite amount of counterfeit ZEC within Orchard without detection.

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