Zcash Shielded News | Vol.23

Zcash Shielded News | Vol.23

Stay up to date with Zcash Shielded News, providing insights on current events and important news in the Zcash ecosystem. Subscribe now!

June 19, 2026· 10 min read
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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

ZCAP stands for the Zcash Community Advisory Panel. It is a group of community members that helps provide input on Zcash governance and ecosystem decisions.

One of its key roles is voting in ZCG elections, helping choose the committee members who review and fund grants for Zcash development and adoption.

In short, ZCAP gives the community a formal voice in Zcash’s direction.

📩 In today’s edition: 🌴 Zcon7 Applications Are Open• Zcon7 applications are now open for the in-person event in Cancún, Mexico, taking place from October 27–29, 2026, alongside Zcash’s 10th birthday, with scholarships available for community contributors who need support. 👥 ZCG | Meeting Minutes - 6/8/2026• The latest ZCG meeting covered several grant proposals under review, including work on developer tooling, Zaino maintenance, Zcash Name Service, education initiatives, and declined proposals that were considered out of scope or not ready for funding. 🗺️ Zecmap Update• Zecmap rolled out major updates to its interface, business listings, user profiles, location verification, photo reviews, and real-world ZEC payment discovery, including Flexa integration and support for more than 9,000 locations. 🚀 ZODL Update: Building Momentum for Zcash• In this week’s ZODL update, Josh Swihart reflected on the community’s renewed momentum while sharing progress across Zodl mobile releases, analytics, Zcash Core work, policy engagement, hiring, and ecosystem updates. 🏛️ PGPZ: A Policy Push for Zcash in Washington• Paul Brigner announced that PGP* is shifting from a broader crypto policy initiative into PGPZ, a Washington, D.C.-focused effort to support Zcash policy engagement around privacy-preserving digital cash, compliance, and financial privacy. 🗳️ ZCG Election: ZCAP Voting Is Now Open• ZCAP voting is now open for the Zcash Community Grants Committee election, with two ZCG seats up for election and candidate materials available on the forum for members to review before the June 29 deadline.

** Zcon7 Applications Are Open**

Zcon7 is coming, and applications are now open. This year’s event will take place in person in Cancún, Mexico, from October 27–29, 2026, at an all-inclusive resort.

Zcon7 will also coincide with Zcash’s 10th birthday on October 28, making this edition a major milestone for the community. 🥳

There is no conference ticket fee, but attendees are responsible for their own travel and lodging. Since space is limited, submitting the form is only an application to attend, not a confirmed registration. Accepted applicants will receive booking instructions from ZF starting in July.

ZF is also offering Zcon7 Scholarships for vital community contributors who need support. Scholarships cover up to $1,000 USD in travel, 4 nights of lodging, and transportation to and from Cancún airport. The scholarship deadline is June 29, 2026, at 23:00 UTC.

Zcon7 will be in-person only, with no official livestream or virtual registration. The goal is to support deeper collaboration, technical sessions, governance discussions, and community gatherings face-to-face.

Interested in attending? Apply through the form.

ZCG | Meeting Minutes - 6/8/2026

Approved

  • No proposals were approved in this round.

Under Review / Remains Open

Declined / Rejected

  • Formal Verification of Halo 2 in Lean 4 | $201,600

    • Proposal to formally verify Zcash’s Orchard protocol and Halo 2 circuits using Lean 4. Declined because the work would require significant developer support and external validation from recognized experts.

  • Incrypted Educational content in CIS region | $5,000

    • CIS-focused Zcash education campaign with localized Ukrainian/Russian articles and one AMA. Declined after the applicant did not agree to narrow the scope to a single educational video.

  • Zcash Privacy Capsule | $46,400

    • Client-side encrypted vault using Zcash for proof-of-existence timestamping, sealed capsules, and time-based release mechanisms. Declined due to unclear use case, storage concerns, and lack of wallet integration.

  • Zcash Shielded-Identity Adapter | $50,000

    • Rust adapter using Zcash shielded keys to anchor encrypted AI memory identity in the SAIHM protocol. Declined because the committee found no clear Zcash-specific need or practical use case.

  • Chain-Agnostic Cross-Chain Atomic Swaps | $37,200

    • Open-source MVP for atomic swaps between EVM chains and transparent Zcash UTXOs. Declined, with the suggestion that the team apply retroactively if they build a successful implementation.

  • Aweb Zcash Private Agent Receipts | $48,000

    • Privacy receipt schema and tooling for AI agent execution. Declined as out of scope for ZCG funding.

  • PCZT Interoperability Test Suite | $33,250

    • PCZT test vectors and cross-implementation interoperability harness for wallets and hardware devices. Declined because the committee felt it duplicated existing work and did not sufficiently demonstrate delivery capability.

  • Zpath a Zcash Whatsapp Bot | $25,000

    • WhatsApp-based bilingual Zcash onboarding assistant for East African users. Declined due to high cost for the expected output and concerns about WhatsApp as the right channel.

Zecmap Updates Announcements

Zecmap rolled out several major updates aimed at making the platform faster, easier to use, and more useful for real-world Zcash payments.

The project redesigned its interface and rebuilt parts of its infrastructure, making it easier for users to add businesses, verify locations, and navigate the map.

One of the biggest updates is the Flexa integration, which gives Zecmap users access to more than 9,000 locations where they can pay with Zcash. These locations can be explored directly on the map, with payments supported through the ZODL wallet.

Zecmap also added a new Accept ZEC section, powered by CipherPay, allowing businesses to start accepting Zcash payments in just a few minutes.

Other updates include:

  • Communities tab: users can optionally select their community when adding a business, with community rankings and rewards planned for the future.

  • Zcash resources: links to Z.cash and ZecHub were added to help users find reliable educational material.

  • Verify Location: users can confirm that they visited a listed business, helping keep business information accurate and up to date.

  • Photo reviews: visitors can submit photo reviews, which are published after moderation.

  • User profiles: users can create profiles, upload profile pictures, and add Zcash wallet addresses.

  • Mobile app: the iOS app has been completed and submitted for review.

Next, Zecmap is working on an AI Bot for web and mobile. The bot is expected to help users ask questions about Zcash, find nearby businesses that accept ZEC, and get support for day-to-day Zcash usage.

The broader goal is to make Zcash more practical in everyday life by connecting users, merchants, communities, and educational resources in one place.

ZODL Update: Building Momentum for Zcash

In this week’s ZODL update, Josh reflected on how much the Zcash community has changed over the past few years.

After a difficult period in 2023, the tone today feels very different. The community is more active, momentum is stronger, and there is a clearer sense that Zcash is moving forward again; ambitious goals often look unrealistic at first, but progress comes from continuing to build, bringing people together, and staying committed through setbacks. 🙂

Zodl Mobile and Product

  • Zodl 3.5.2 and 3.5.3 were released with Coinholder Polling UI polish, an iOS Swap and Pay error fix, and removal of decommissioned Stardust servers on both iOS and Android.

  • Zodl 3.6 added Automatic and Manual server selection on both iOS and Android.

  • A cross-platform new-wallet first-launch UX fix was reviewed and tested, preventing unnecessary block scanning.

  • Multi-currency conversion support was implemented.

  • Next work includes Orchard-to-Ironwood migration specs and implementation, more security hardening, and Zodl 3.7 testing for multi-server transaction broadcast.

Analytics

  • 🍎 | iOS: 44.1k unique installs, 52.7k total downloads, and a 4.9★ App Store rating.

  • 🤖 | Android: 16.3k install base, 52.6k total installs including Open Beta, and a 4.25★ Play Store rating.

Zcash Core and R&D

  • librustzcash, Zallet, and related dependencies were updated to NU6.2.

  • Zallet alpha.4 advanced, with two of three gating sync-engine items closed.

  • getwalletstatus RPC was added, and wallet syncing was migrated to use it.

  • Several zcashd-wallet migration bugs were fixed, including issues around imported keys, watch-only addresses, Sapling view keys, transparent ingestion, and z_shieldcoinbase.

  • Integration-test scaffolding landed, including a regtest wallet builder and multi-NU test wallet.

  • Zallet was upgraded for compatibility with the latest Zaino.

  • Next core priorities include fund quantization, note randomization, Orchard-to-Ironwood migration, the final Zallet alpha.4 sync-engine item, Zaino v0.4.0, and Zaino/lightwalletd gRPC parity testing.

Policy and Regulatory

  • Paul Brigner represented ZODL at the DCG DC Fly-In, including a congressional briefing panel with Peter Van Valkenburgh from Coin Center and Yaya Fanusie from Aleo.

  • PGPZ launched, with the site and community now live. PGPZ stands for Pretty Good Policy for Zcash, and the coalition launch is expected to follow.

  • Outside counsel work continues with Accrediv on PGPZ and Arktouros on ZODL-operated wallet infrastructure.

Other Updates

  • Cozymaximalist is joining ZODL as content & communications lead.

  • Engagement with several security firms is underway for the interim Security Director role.

  • ZODL is hiring, with open roles listed on its jobs page.

Market and Ecosystem

  • Sean Bowe shared an Ironwood backgrounder and a 48-hour update on where the NU7/Ironwood design has landed.

  • Anthropic Mythos found no serious Zcash vulnerabilities.

  • The next round of in-app Coinholder Polling is delayed until after Ironwood activates.

  • The grants polling round previously planned for this window was also postponed by the Zcash Foundation.

  • Josh shared a long-form interview with Vlad Costea.

  • CoinDesk covered the Orchard disclosure and response.

PGPZ: A Policy Push for Zcash in Washington

On June 8, Paul Brigner announced that PGP*, short for Pretty Good Policy, is shifting from a broader crypto policy initiative into PGPZ: Pretty Good Policy for Zcash.

PGPZ is a Washington, D.C.-focused policy initiative built around privacy-preserving digital cash, practical compliance, and Zcash’s role in the public interest.

As policymakers shape the future of digital cash and financial privacy, PGPZ aims to give Zcash a more organized presence in those conversations. The initiative is meant to help policymakers better understand what Zcash is, how privacy-preserving digital cash can be used lawfully, and why financial privacy matters.

PGPZ will focus on three areas:

  • Focused convenings: bringing policymakers together with experts on privacy-preserving digital cash, compliance, civil liberties, and public-interest technology. The Cypherpunk Policy Dinner on October 21 is one example.

  • Community and member resources: creating a home for Zcash policy updates, resources, programming, and community coordination.

  • The PGPZ Coalition: organizing a smaller, action-oriented group of policy professionals and advocates focused on education, strategy, and practical engagement around Zcash.

At its core, PGPZ is about making sure financial privacy is treated as a serious public-interest issue, not just a crypto talking point.

For more background, the playlists from previous PGP* events are worth checking out, with discussions on crypto policy, privacy, compliance, and public-interest technology.

👉 Watch the previous PGP* event playlists

ZCG Election: ZCAP Voting Is Now Open

In recent editions, we highlighted the upcoming ZCG Committee election for ZCAP members, so here’s a quick reminder.

The vote is now open and will run until June 29 at 20:00 UTC. If you are part of ZCAP, check your email for voting instructions from SIV. If you do not see it, it may be worth checking your spam folder as well.

This election will fill two seats on the ZCG committee. The candidates are:

  • Dontbeevil

  • Aesobar / Aescobar (Michael)

  • Paul Brigner

  • Victor Zscharnt (Vic)

  • Decentrathai

  • USCMigs (Miguel)

  • Ready Mouse (Mylo Bennett)

  • Valens

  • gorusys (Daniel Goh)

  • T.S. (vaspholdings)

  • GGuy

  • M.F

  • Palmar

  • Groggs

Read the forum thread with candidate videos and written responses. Candidates answer community questions about ZCG’s larger funding budget, Zcash’s biggest opportunity, and what they would change about Zcash.

ZCAP members who want to vote should review the candidate materials and follow the instructions sent by email before the deadline.

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#community#technology#finance#governance#cryptocurrency#events#news#Zcash

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