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
Blockchain Commons and Zingo Labs have made significant progress on ZeWIF, particularly on the zmigrate tool, but face delays in certain milestones.
**
💡Key Achievements:**
🔹 Zmigrate Tool & Crates – The tool can now import zcashd data and abstract it into ZeWIF in-memory structures, allowing developers to build their own import/export tools.
🔹 ECC & Zingo Labs Testing – ECC is integrating the tool, and Zingo Labs is developing a zecwallet importer as part of its milestones.
🔹 Restructuring for Accessibility – ZeWIF has been refactored into four separate crates for better modularity:
Zmigrate (CLI tool)
Zewif (core parsing & in-memory structures)
Zewif-zcashd (translates zcashd data)
Zewif-zingo & zewif-zecwallet (future expansions)
Challenges & Delays:
⚠️ Gordian Envelope-based Serialization (needed for wallet file interchange) is unfinished and requires additional work.
⚠️ zcashd Data Complexity – Translating zcashd’s data format was more challenging than expected.
⚠️ ECC Requested Delays – ECC asked to delay crate releases to allow better integration and refinement.
Proposed Grant Extension:
To fully complete the ZeWIF project and support developers, Blockchain Commons requests an additional $28,400 to cover:
✔️ ZeWIF-Envelope Import/Export Crate
✔️ Full Serialization Specification
✔️ Final Documentation & Developer Support
New Milestones:
📌 April 1-2 (Revised Milestone 3):
Updated ZeWIF & zmigrate crates
Rust API Docs
Test suites for zcashd & zecwallet formats
First drafts of best practices
📌 April 30 (New Milestone 3.5):
ZeWIF Envelope Import/Export Crate
Final ZeWIF Serialization Specification
Complete documentation
This extension does not impact Milestone 4, which Zingo Labs will continue in parallel.
Next Steps:
ZCG’s approval is requested to proceed with the revised milestone plan and grant extension. If approved, the updated Milestone 3 will be submitted by April 1-2, and Milestone 3.5 by April 30. 🚀
The update of this week was posted by Pacu like usually after some days attending events in Sofia, Bulgaria.
The ZkProof space is gearing up for Zk Week, with many Zcash members attending the ZF Dev Summit, which has slightly slowed down progress.
Key Updates:
🔹 Zebra (Full Node Implementation)
Progress continues despite ZF Dev Summit preparations.
Sprint closing issues:
Adding fields to
getrawtransactionverbose response.Running a Zebra-only testnet.
Mid-May 2025: Zebra will be ready for Zcashd deprecation, allowing full reliance from teams like Zaino & Zallet.
Continuous Integration (CI) ensures stability with automated testing.
🔹 Zaino (ZingoLabs)
Almost back on track! Working on Milestone 3, integrating with Zebra’s ReadStateService.
75% of Zingo devs are shifting focus to Zaino.
In-Memory Backend: Pending review of PR.
🔹 Zallet (Full Node Wallet)
Delayed by 2 months but catching up.
Syncing via Zaino instead of lightwalletd (testing ongoing).
🔹 Wallet Export Format
On track – Teams working on Milestones 2 & 3.
Testing wallets needed! Developers seek drained wallets for compatibility testing.
🔹 Regtest ZIP Draft
- First round of review comments addressed. Community input is welcome on the proposal.
Call to Action:
Help test wallet formats by providing wallet files.
Review and comment on the Regtest ZIP draft.
Progress continues despite the ZF Dev Summit, with key projects advancing towards full integration with Zebra. 🚀
🔗Post
The latest Zingo!🍃 v1.11.1 update enhances navigation, transaction management, and user experience with the following features:
Optimized Navigation – Improved back navigation for a smoother app experience.
Redesigned Receive Tab – All shielded addresses are grouped in one place, with a separate tab for transparent addresses (T-addresses).
Expanded Memo Space – Orchard-only reply-to address allows for more memo text.
Clean Transaction History – Option to filter out small transactions for a tidier history.
Quick Settings Access – A new gear icon at the top provides instant access to settings.
Enhanced Synchronization Status – A real-time indicator keeps you informed about data sync progress.
These updates make Zingo!🍃 more intuitive, efficient, and user-friendly! 🚀
Recently, Rene Vergara applied a grant requesting $91.000 to make improvements on Zenith Wallet.
Zenith is a full-node Zcash wallet that aims to integrate new ecosystem features like FROST multisig wallets and Keystone hardware wallet support.
Here`s some points proposed:
- FROST Multisig Support
Enable multisig Zcash wallets with distributed key generation.
Facilitate multisig transaction initiation and completion.
- Kestone Hardware Wallet Integration
Support secure key storage using Keystone.
Enable signing and broadcasting transactions via Zebra.
Technical Approach:
Utilize Cwtch protocol for peer-to-peer, encrypted communication over Tor to handle FROST ceremonies.
Extend librustzcash Rust crates for Keystone wallet integration using Partially Created Zcash Transactions (PCZTs).
Budget Breakdown:
Compensation: $86,400 (960 hours @ $90/hour)
Hardware/Software: $300 (2 Keystone wallets)
Service Costs: $5,000 (donation to Open Privacy Research Society)
Startup Costs: $5,300 (hardware + donation)
Implementation Risks:
Changes in librustzcash may impact development.
NU7 testnet availability could affect progress.
It’s important to shout out that Vergara has sucessfully completed previous grants for ZGo and Zenith Full Node Wallet development.
Let’s see how ZCG will responds.
🔗Link
Josh started this week's update by sharing that he took some time to travel with his family and relax his mind.
Here are the updates that ECC made this week according to his post on the forum.
Zashi
📱| Zashi Design
Made progress on App Redesign: Shielding UI, Syncing + Restoring UI, Balances UI, Cross-chain payments for Maya/Near
Small adjustments to Secret Recovery Phrase and Wallet Backup designs
Made a bunch of ad hoc product and engineering-requested edits
Improvements to Receive ZEC designs (to support address rotation)
🧑💻| Q&A and Dev Support
Finalized QA checklist w/ Zashi team
created Github issues for remaining UI updates
Zashi 1.5 Release Testing
Zcash Brave announcement support
Community & Socials management
Content creation
User Support
Zcash Dev-Tool + testnet Zashi transparent recovery testing
Updated ECC page on ZecHub
🍎| Zashi iOS
2.0 Release:
Finished all flows (iOS 16+ navigation): Scan flows from Home Screen (new button), Transaction Detail screens, Transactions with filters, Scan using the system camera, warning flow, Currency Conversion flow, Keystone Send flows + Shielding, Balances sheet
Released initial testing build 0.6.0-1
Released 0.6.0-2 with fixes addressing initial feedback
1.5 Release:
Adopted the latest librustzcash crates version + FFI version
Released and submitted 2 release candidate builds
WIP: Restore flow redesign with recovery phrase suggestions
🤖| Zashi Android
2.0 Release:
Secret Recovery Phrase screen redesigned (added a bottom sheet with more information)
Balances widget redesigned
Available balance moved to the Send screen
Fixed an issue where empty message was displayed during loading on Transaction Detail screen
Fixed an issue where read/unread memo icon was blinking on Transaction widget on the Home Screen or Transaction History
Updated illustration on the Home Screen empty state
Scanning ZIP321 is now disabled on the Send Screen when navigated to by the Send Again button from Transaction Detail screen
Corrected button colors on the Receive screen
Added SharedPreferences persistence logic to SDK
Adopted the latest BIP39 v1.0.9 in Zashi
Improved our CI to build the FOSS variant of Zashi preemptively
1.5 Release
Adopted the latest librustzcash crates version and prepared necessary Kotlin side changes
Prepared releases, tested, and fixed several issues
🦓| Zcash Core
A couple of core team members were out in Sofia with others in the Zcash community this week for HACS, Real World Crypto, and ZkProof.
The core team is fully focused on zcashd wallet replacement, working on Zingo integration into Zallet and migrating data from the zcashd wallet using the zewif infrastructure from the Blockchain Commons team.
🌐| Other
- ZIP submissions are due soon, but polling is delayed by about a week due to audit issues. It is expected to start by April 17th, with a formal update next week.
🔗Link
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