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💡
Zcash Shielded Assets (ZSAs) will allow multiple asset types- not just ZEC - to exist inside Zcash’s shielded pool, meaning transfers can hide sender, receiver, and amount while remaining fully interoperable with Zcash’s privacy guarantees.
This makes Zcash uniquely capable of supporting private stablecoins, tokens, and application-specific assets without sacrificing confidentiality or protocol-level privacy.
📩 Quick Takes 🦊 Zcash Now Live on ShapeShift • ZEC is now fully supported across ShapeShift’s self-custodial platform, enabling users to hold, send, receive, and swap Zcash on desktop and mobile alongside other major assets. 🌳 OrchardZSA Finalization Grant Proposal • A new grant proposal outlines the final review, testing, and integration work needed to complete Orchard-based Zcash Shielded Assets (ZSAs) as part of NU7. 👥 Zcash Community Grants – Meeting Minutes (12/8/2025) • The latest ZCG meeting minutes recap grant approvals, rejections, and ongoing discussions shaping funding priorities across the Zcash ecosystem. 🪟 The Window – ECC Update • This week’s ECC update covers progress across Zashi, Zcash Core, and ecosystem initiatives, with a focus on privacy, events and long-term protocol development. 🛡️ Shielded Labs Engages Nicolás Della Penna for Crosslink Review • Shielded Labs has brought on Nicolás Della Penna to conduct an independent incentive and mechanism-design review of Crosslink as it moves toward protocol hardening and potential v1.0 readiness. 🌐 ZCG RFP – DeFi Strategist • ZCG has selected a DeFi Strategist to guide high-impact integrations and partnerships, strengthening ZEC’s presence across DeFi and cross-chain ecosystems.
Zcash is now fully integrated across all ShapeShift platforms. 🥳
Users can hold, send, receive, and swap ZEC alongside BTC, ETH, SOL, and other major assets through ShapeShift’s self-custodial, multichain interface on desktop and mobile.
The integration includes full wallet support, live swap liquidity via Maya Protocol, and end-to-end testing across all core features. As a bonus, ShapeShift also shipped a NEAR Protocol Intents swapper to expand cross-chain options.
Public communications begin December 18, alongside a focused Phase 2 marketing plan centered on earned media and targeted community outreach.
The goal is to support Zcash adoption through trust, narrative leadership, and high-intent engagement, while returning unused grant funds to preserve capital.
Zcash is live today at app.shapeshift.com.
Vivek (QEDIT) announced that work on integrating Zcash Shielded Assets (ZSAs) into NU7 continues to make steady progress. A feature-complete version of ZSAs is now available on testnet, and the core OrchardZSA protocol changes have been completed.
Reviews are currently underway, starting with the Orchard crate. As feedback is finalized, updates will roll upward through librustzcash, Zebra, and related repositories. In parallel, reference test vectors for the ZSA changes have been prepared and are also under review, with plans to integrate them alongside other NU7 updates to avoid divergence.
Most of this work is expected to take place in Q1 2026, with a smaller team focused primarily on review-driven updates rather than new development. A link to the grant proposal is available on GitHub.
The team remains focused on delivering protocol improvements that bring long-term value to the Zcash ecosystem.
Open Grant Proposals
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- Proposed a large-scale global marketing campaign leveraging Brave’s user base. While Brave’s reach is recognized, reviewers raised concerns about budget size, readiness, and lack of pilot data. Community sentiment suggests revisiting with a smaller, more targeted approach. (Request: $750k)
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- Proposal remains under discussion. ZCG is open to continued community feedback before a decision is made. (Request: $68.6k)
ZIG: Zcash Integration Guardrail
- A tooling proposal to help teams safely migrate Zcash node stacks. Awaiting additional community feedback before voting. (Request: $25k)
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- Widely viewed as a core contributor to the ecosystem through education, onboarding, and coordination. Strong support expressed, pending final community feedback. (Request: $419k)
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- Recognized for strong impact and long-term contribution. ZCG noted the need for broader discussion around sustained funding levels as teams scale. (Request: $355k)
Approved Grants 🟢
Bootstrapped & Deterministic Builds (StageX)
- Approved to strengthen supply-chain security and reproducible builds for Zcash core software. (Request: $48k)
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- Approved to migrate ZGo from zcashd to Zebra and Zenith, ensuring long-term viability of Zcash POS infrastructure. (Request: $138.8k)
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- Approved to deliver full Orchard shielded transaction support across Ledger devices and Ledger Wallet. (Request: $300k)
Declined Proposals 🔴
ZEC-native Pop-Up City – Budget and scope too large without clear mandate
Nesthub for Zcash Developers: Limited ecosystem fit and feasibility concerns
Myaza Wallet & POS: Wallet funding not prioritized at this time
FLASH Bridge: Insufficient confidence in execution and overlap with existing solutions
Zcash Ghana: Encouraged to continue via ZecHub support first
Point (Privacy AI Platform): AI-focused grants not a current priority
Other Updates 🔎
DeFi Strategist
- ZCG has signed a three-month probationary IC agreement with a new DeFi Strategist starting January 1. An introduction will follow on the Forum.
Zashi Updates 📱
Completed:
Continued progress on Zashi 2.4.10, focused on user-reported bug fixes and small UX/UI improvements
Implemented Linear cycles and expanded use of the GitHub ↔ Linear integration
Advanced a new iteration of the Duress / Decoy Wallet feature
Began planning the January ECC internal Hacker House
Next:
Finalize and ship Zashi 2.4.10
Iterate on and prepare Duress / Decoy Wallet designs for review
Continue improving engineering workflows and cross-team collaboration
Zashi | Adoption Numbers
🍎 | iOS | Total Downloads: 38.2k downloads +0.9k) | 4.9 rating ★
🤖 | Android | Total Installs: 38.2k installs (+0.6k) | 4.25 rating ★
🔄 | Swap Volume: December: $31.5M | YTD: 347M
Zcash Core 🦓
Completed:
Near-complete review of OrchardZSA changes
Added backend functionality to fix shielded state display issues
Continued work on EIP-681 transaction request parsing
Released multiple librustzcash patch updates
Fixed ZIP 321 payment request edge cases
Reviewed Zypherpunks hackathon submissions
Advanced z_shieldcoinbase work in Zallet
Made major progress designing new NU7 transaction formats to reduce future ecosystem breakage
Continued planning for lockbox funds disbursement
Next:
Transparent address rotation
Lockbox disbursement tooling
Keystone multisig support reviews
lightwalletd updates
Finalize EIP-681 parser
Zallet releases (0.1.0-alpha-3 and alpha-4)
ZIP drafts for alternative V6 transaction formats
Wallet resync improvements with precise block height rewind
Other 🌐
ECC (Josh & Peacemonger) participated in events in the UAE alongside NEAR
Paul and Tony participated in the annual Blockchain Association DC Policy Summit
ZCG elections are underway for ZCAP members
a16z highlighted privacy as the strongest moat in crypto
As Crosslink nears the end of its prototype phase, Shielded Labs is entering a structured hardening and review process to evaluate security, incentives, and readiness for a potential v1.0. The focus is shifting to stress-testing assumptions and addressing community feedback.
An independent mechanism-design review will be conducted by Nicolás “Nikete” Della Penna, an experienced researcher in decentralized systems and incentive design. The review will examine validator and participant incentives, potential failure modes, and risks related to safety, liveness, and censorship resistance.
The review scope has been pre-registered for transparency, with a written report and public summary to support community discussion. The goal is to increase confidence in Crosslink’s design and set a strong precedent for future protocol upgrades.
Curious about Crosslink? → shieldedlabs.net/crosslink-faq & shieldedlabs.net/crosslink-updated-staking-design
Last month, the Zcash Community Grants (ZCG) opened a Request for Proposals (RFP) to appoint a part-time DeFi Strategist to strengthen Zcash’s presence across DeFi and Web3. The role focuses on evaluating high-impact integrations, guiding partnerships, and expanding the availability and liquidity of ZEC (and synthetic ZEC) across key decentralized platforms.
The strategist’s responsibilities include assessing integration opportunities, supporting existing partnerships (such as NEAR, Maya, ShapeShift, Crosslink, and ZSAs), tracking DeFi trends, and coordinating with ecosystem stakeholders to prioritize efforts that drive meaningful adoption.
Six days ago, Jason McGee announced on the forum that the RFP has been filled. After reviewing several strong submissions, the ZCG committee unanimously selected a candidate with extensive, hands-on experience in DeFi and cross-chain integrations.
ZCG has appointed @rigs to the role. He will formally begin as DeFi Strategist on January 1, supporting Zcash’s ongoing efforts to expand its role in decentralized finance.
Welcome, Rigs! 💛