Gem Wallet adds native ZEC swaps via THORChain. Zcash anniversary month begins. ZF ships four Zebra releases in two weeks and hires a new Technical Program Manager. ZCG offers free AI security audits through V12.
Top Stories
Gem Wallet now supports native ZEC swaps in-app, powered by THORChain's recently added Zcash support. No wrapped ZEC, no bridge, no exchange account — swap directly between ZEC and other THORChain-supported assets. This is another step in ZEC becoming natively tradeable across ecosystems without custodians. Forum · THORChain blog post
October 28, 2016: the Zcash genesis block was mined. This month marks the 10th anniversary. The community is celebrating — a dedicated "Zcash anniversary month" thread is collecting events, retrospectives, and milestones. Zcon7 in Cancún (Oct 27–29) lands right on the birthday weekend.
The Zcash Foundation's engineering update covers September 21 through October 5 and it's dense: Zebra 6.4.0 and 6.4.1 brought security fixes and light wallet serving, 6.4.2 was an emergency fix for a remotely triggerable crash, and 7.0.0-rc.0 is the first NU7 release candidate. Specific security fixes: tampered block handling, peer ban evasion via IPv6 rotation, and 24-hour ban expiry. NU7 activated on testnet at block 4,465,026 on October 4. Engineering update
Joan De Arcayne joins the Zcash Foundation as Technical Program Manager. Background in crypto product launches and engineering, focused on keeping the distance between ideas and working code as short as possible. Forum
Ecosystem
A toolkit for starting in-person Zcash meetups, including printable materials and an event directory. Built by Paul, who previously ran the Bitcoin Cash Association. Forum
The hardware wallet team reports stable firmware, an internal security review, and a maintenance grant application for continued development ($88K for four months plus 12 months of maintenance). Forum
ZCG is offering free V12 credits (the AI auditor built by the Zellic team) to Zcash ecosystem projects. V12 finds vulnerabilities, generates proof-of-concept exploits, and suggests patches. Applications open. Forum
Looking for partners, mentors, and judges. Zcash privacy track. Forum
Coverage of Zcash fork history and context. Forum
Governance & Grants
New grant applications this week:
New grant applications this week:
Protocol & Development
NU7 has been running on testnet since October 4. Blocks come every 25 seconds. Testnet operators who haven't upgraded to Zebra 7.0.0-rc.0 are off the NU7 chain. The Foundation is monitoring for issues before a mainnet activation date is finalized.
The volume of grant applications this week — from React Native wallets to Solana privacy tooling to Korean-language research — signals growing developer interest. Notable: multiple applications target native shielded integration, not just transparent ZEC wrapping. The ecosystem is building toward privacy as the default path, not an afterthought.
Tweets of the Week
"Zcash will eclipse Bitcoin"
"In case you are wondering... yes, you are still early. Zcash."
"Six straight days of net inflows into Zcash's shielded pools. From Oct 6–11, 32,577 more ZEC entered than left. Nearly 4.97 million ZEC now sits behind the shielded curtain."
Forum Highlights
a proposal to expand the global ambassador program and fund emerging community builders. Thread
monthly community outreach summary. Thread
results from a privacy awareness campaign. Thread
community members asking about Zcash Shielded Assets, timeline, and integration path. Thread
Privacy Corner
In October 2016, Zcash launched with a radical proposition: money should be private by default. Ten years later, the transparent pool is shrinking, shielded transactions are climbing, and the Ironwood pool just crossed 4M ZEC.
The ecosystem has grown in ways nobody predicted — trustless cross-chain atomic swaps, shielded DeFi research, native THORChain support, and hardware wallet integration for shielded spending. The math that seemed academic a decade ago now protects real money for real people.
The 10th anniversary isn't just a milestone. It's evidence that privacy-preserving money isn't a niche experiment — it's infrastructure.
Network Snapshot
ZEC Price
~$1,420 · +1.8%
Block Height
~3,514,200 · +8,100
Network Upgrade
NU6.3 Ironwood (mainnet) · NU7 (testnet) · —
Hashrate
~31.2 GSol/s · +1.3%
Zcash Privacy Index
Powered by ZecBlock — live data from the Zcash blockchain.
Privacy Score
43 · 43
Shielded TX % (all-time)
24.3% · 24.2%
Ironwood Pool
~4,070,000 ZEC · ~4,005,000 ZEC
Orchard Pool
~375,000 ZEC · ~376,000 ZEC
Sapling Pool
~501,500 ZEC · ~501,500 ZEC
Sprout Pool
~22,000 ZEC · ~22,200 ZEC
Total Shielded
~4,968,500 ZEC · ~4,904,700 ZEC
24h Volume
~$7.1M
24h Swaps
~1,410
All-Time Volume
~$586M
All-Time Swaps
~91,500
Hashrate
~31.2 GSol/s
Tool Updates
ZecBlock:
Miner attribution audit shipped — historical mining summaries repaired with correct pool labels. Observed orphan rate tracking added to the mining page. Crosslink v14 schema and freshness checks deployed.
CipherPay:
No new features this week.
What's Ahead