Zcash Shielded News is a community article format based on the weekly Zcash Ecosystem Digest Newsletter.
Providing insight on current events and informing the community about important news in the Zcash ecosystem.
Check out the best Highlights below!
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Fact of the Week 💡
ZecHub Hackathon 3.0 is officially underway, giving builders 51 days to create, experiment, and ship across five different tracks.
This edition comes with a total prize pool of 25 ZEC, making it a great opportunity for developers and community members to contribute new ideas to the Zcash ecosystem.
For details on how to participate: Link
📩 In today’s edition: 🗳️ ZODL App to Launch Zcash Coinholder Polling Ahead of NU7 Upgrade• ZODL is preparing to launch Zcash coinholder polling, allowing users to vote with their coins and share their views on the future of the protocol, starting with the upcoming NU7 sentiment poll. 🏛️ ZCG Nominations Now Open For June Election• Zcash Community Grants opened nominations for its June election, with two committee seats becoming available as @decentralistdan and @GGuy reach the end of their terms. 📋 ZCG Meeting Minutes | 5/11/2026• ZCG reviewed a new round of grant proposals, approving projects such as BTCPayServer improvements, Hito hardware wallet support, Tor’s internet freedom crowdfunding campaign, and DWeb Camp outreach. 🧙 Vizor Wallet | New Zcash Wallet• Vizor launched as a new macOS desktop wallet for Zcash, featuring multi-account support, Keystone integration, shielded-by-default sending, and open-source code under Apache 2.0. 🛤️ The Path For Billions | ZODL Update• Josh shared a broader ZODL vision focused on building toward “hold private, spend anywhere,” emphasizing financial privacy, real-world usability, and disciplined focus across the Zcash ecosystem. 🖥️ Noir Wallet Private Beta Is Now Live• Noir introduced a browser extension wallet for native ZECFi, aiming to bring shielded transactions, cross-chain swaps, lending, borrowing, and DApp connections directly into the brows
ZODL App to Launch Zcash Coinholder Pollin Ahead of NU7 Upgrade
A few days ago, Josh shared that Zodl is preparing to add Zcash coinholder voting, with the first poll expected to take place in June.
In practice, this means Zodl users will be able to share their views on the direction of the Zcash protocol by voting with their own coins. The goal is to open another channel for coinholders to participate in discussions about the future of the network, starting with the upcoming Network Upgrade 7, or NU7.
The draft questions and timeline for the NU7 poll have already been shared on the Zcash Community Forum for community review. The voting protocol will also be available for integration with other shielded ZEC wallets.
@zkDragon and his team played a significant role in developing the new voting protocol and supporting its integration with Zodl.
ZCG Nominations Now Open For June Election
ZCG is opening a new election cycle, with two seats becoming available at the end of June as @decentralistdan and @GGuy reach the end of their current terms.
Anyone in the community can run, including current members seeking re-election. Community members may also nominate someone else, as long as that person agrees to participate.
The nomination period opened on May 18 and closes on June 8 at 20:00 UTC. A community call with candidates is planned for June 11, followed by the ZCAP voting period, which will run until June 29. Results are expected by July 1.
ZCG members serve one-year terms and help evaluate grants for the Zcash ecosystem. Members may serve anonymously to the public, though their real identity must be shared confidentially with the Financial Privacy Foundation.
Compensation is currently set at $1,725 USD + 10 ZEC per month, paid in shielded ZEC, for members who choose to accept it.
List of candidates so far:
ZCG Meeting Minutes | 5/11/2026
Approved 🟢
BTCPayServer Multi-Account and 0conf Mempool Support - Improve the Zcash BTCPayServer plugin with 0conf mempool notifications and multi-account support for merchants. $25,000
Grassroots Marketing Team at DWeb Camp - Send a Zcash grassroots team to DWeb Camp 2026 for Zodl demos, education, and developer outreach. $10,200
Using Zcash in an Internet Freedom Crowdfunding Campaign - Support Tor’s crypto-native crowdfunding campaign, with Zcash as a primary donation option. $50,000
Hito - Build a cold-signing module for Zcash Orchard shielded transactions on Hito’s hardware wallet. $50,000
Rejected 🔴
Zush · Quiet Money for Zcash, US Phase 1 - Zcash-integrated debit card product with prepaid and light-KYC tiers. $100,000
Revocable Private Delegation in Token Holder Voting - Private delegation and revocation system for Zcash token holder voting. $140,900
Teenagers in Blockchain Africa (TIBA) - Zcash education and developer outreach program across Nigeria. $12,600
Zcash University Outreach Initiative – Mexico - Technical Zcash workshops across five Mexican universities. $47,500
Zcash Sponsorship & Adoption Activation at KBCC 2026 - Zcash sponsorship, workshop, and community activation in Kenya. $8,500
Zcash Arabia - Arabic-language Zcash education, onboarding, and community expansion across MENA. $32,500
Pesa ya Siri Tanzania 2026 - Pilot for Zcash payments and onboarding in Tanzania through WhatsApp and local agents. $5,800
Quantir Privacy-Safe Risk Intelligence - Open-source monitoring and risk alerting tool for Zcash infrastructure. $48,000
Under Review 🟡
Formal Verification of Halo 2 in Lean 4 - Formal verification of Zcash Orchard protocol and Halo 2 circuits using Lean 4. $201,600
Feature Branch Testnet and Compatible Developer Tooling - Dedicated testnet for NU7-deferred features such as ZSA and NSM. $412,410
Cypherpunk Policy Dinner - Zcash-branded privacy policy dinner in Washington, DC before the DC Privacy Summit. $25,000
Rore UI Engine in Rust - GPU-rendered Rust UI framework aimed at replacing Electron-based Zcash desktop tooling. $50,000
WalletConnect v2 Integration with BazaarSwap - WalletConnect v2 SDK for Zcash wallet-to-dApp connectivity, with BazaarSwap as the flagship dApp. $375,000
Vizor Wallet | New Zcash Wallet
If you like elements that bring back the feel of old knights, RPG games, dungeons, and hidden treasures, you’ll probably enjoy Vizor.
Vizor is a new desktop wallet for Zcash, with a visual identity that feels quite different from what you usually see in crypto wallets. It is currently available for macOS and supports multiple accounts inside a single wallet, making it easier to organize different uses of ZEC in one app.
The send flow is also designed to be simple: Unified Address, amount, memo, and confirmation, with shielded transactions by default. Vizor also comes with Keystone support from day one.
Another important point is that Vizor is open source under the Apache 2.0 license. That means anyone can check the code, build from source, verify releases, and audit the project on GitHub.
Curious? Visit: x.com/vizorwallet
The Path For Billions
This week, Josh emphasized the need to keep Zcash and Zodl focused on a clear mission: a world without mass financial surveillance, where privacy is the default.
The key message was simple: stay focused on “hold private, spend anywhere” -private ZEC holdings with real-world usability - and avoid distractions that don’t move the ecosystem closer to that goal.
Zodl (Product)
Zodl iOS 3.4.0 was released, improving Keystone hardware wallet reconnection. Together with 3.3.0, Zodl now supports the full hardware wallet flow: connect, disconnect, and reconnect. Release post.
Swift SDK 2.5.0 and Android SDK 2.5.0 were released together, closing the 2.5.0 cycle with rewind/rescan plumbing and synchronizer-state work for upcoming mobile features.
Coinholder Polling was finalized on iOS and Android with Valar Group, merged, and moved into internal testing ahead of the NU7 sentiment poll.
Polling UX/UI was refined with updated designs, including authority selection for active poll lists and edge-case screens for polling/results.
Next up: more Coinholder Polling testing, iOS sync error fixes, Automatic Server Switch, Multi-Server Transaction Submission, Multi-Currency Conversion, and Multi-Account Support designs.
Metrics
🍎 | iOS: reached 41.9k (+0.5k) unique installs, 49.9k (+0.7k) downloads, and a 4.9★ rating.
🤖 | Android: reached 15.6k (+0.3k) install base, 50k total installs (+0.5k), and a 4.24★ rating.
Zcash Core (R&D)
Discussion around reducing block times from 75s to 25s converged this week.
A shielding failure affecting Android Zashi/Zodl users with many small transparent UTXOs was diagnosed and fixed.
Multiple ZEWIF fixes landed, improving blob sizing, redeem-script handling, wallet reliability, and interchange reliability.
Zallet alpha.4 progressed with breaking-change detection, preventing old alpha wallets from running on incompatible builds.
Reviews continued for the shielded-voting Swift SDK PRs and Multi-Server Transaction Submission, both tied to upcoming mobile work.
CompactBlock follow-up work wrapped, reducing legacy/protocol overhead.
Transparent UTXO handling was unified in
zcash_client_backend, fixing sent/received UTXO inconsistencies.Next up: remaining Zallet alpha.4 work, z_shieldcoinbase RPC review, sync-engine refactors, full-block scanning, Zaino ChainIndex migration, and broader zcashd migration support for legacy key types.
Other
NU7 sentiment poll questions opened for community review. The poll will run through both ZCAP and coinholders, with the first in-wallet coinholder voting via Zodl and Keystone support for hardware wallet users.
ZODL Summit invites opened for July 8–10 in Prague, bringing together Zcash contributors and ecosystem partners. Apply here.
Cypherpunk Policy Dinner discussions continued around ZCG anchor sponsorship, with future focus on recruiting Zcash ecosystem sponsors if approved.
New team members are joining: Harry as Senior Mobile QA, Danny Willems as Principal Cryptographic Engineer, and Giulia as Marketing Associate.
A Coinholder Grant application for Zcash core work was submitted. Post here.
Miner outreach kicked off, with codebase owners contacting miners directly.
Marketing updates included the restored ECC blog and continued Zodl x Slope brand engagement.
Zodl is hiring, with open roles listed here.
Market and Ecosystem
Zcash received coverage in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and Fast Company.
A new Bankless podcast episode on Zcash is expected this week.
Noir Wallet private beta is now LIVE
This week, Noir was introduced as a new browser extension wallet focused on bringing a more native DeFi experience to the Zcash ecosystem.
The idea is to solve a gap that still exists today: while Zcash already has strong privacy wallets, there still isn’t a simple and direct way to connect a wallet to Zcash-compatible DApps. Many interactions still rely on QR codes, manual transfers, and extra steps.
With Noir, users will be able to access features like shielded transactions, cross-chain swaps, lending, borrowing, and DApp connections directly from the browser, while keeping the experience inside Zcash’s privacy layer.
The project is supported by Zcash Community Grants and positions itself as a bridge between Zcash privacy and the broader DeFi world.
Private beta sign-ups are now open.