💡 Fact of the Week
Did you know? Shielded Labs was founded as a Swiss association in December 2022, with the goal of helping make the Zcash ecosystem more decentralized and resilient.
When Jason McGee introduced the organization publicly in early 2023, one of the ideas behind it was to expand the number of independent organizations contributing to Zcash development.
📩 In today’s edition
🗳️ NU7 Polls Show Where the Zcash Ecosystem Aligns
• NU7 polling showed broad support for 25-second blocks, retiring legacy v4 transactions, and moving the upgrade forward, while monetary policy drew more varied responses.
🛡️ Shielded Labs Receives 200 ZEC Donation
• Longtime Zcash holder Dory donated 200 ZEC, worth roughly $235,000 at the time, to support Shielded Labs’ independent work on Zcash.
🌸 Zakura 1.4.0 Brings Major Performance Gains and Formal Verification
• Zakura’s latest release brings major proving performance gains and a new zk-SNARK prover backed by a machine-checked Lean proof of a zero-knowledge property.
👛 Wallet Updates: Zodl and Zingo
• Zodl 3.13.0 expands fiat conversion, Swap and CrossPay options, and Slipstream improvements, while Zingo adds new device authentication and biometric privacy controls.
🏛️ ZCG | Meeting Minutes 9/14/2026
• ZCG approved three grants while continuing to review several proposals, with additional applications declined or considered too early for a vote.
🌴 Zcon7 Speaker Lineup Takes Shape
• The Zcash Foundation revealed the Zcon7 speaker lineup, bringing together developers, researchers, community builders, and privacy advocates ahead of the October event in Cancún.
NU7 Polls Show Where the Zcash Ecosystem Aligns
The latest round of NU7 polling has concluded, gathering input from coinholders, ZCAP, the Zcash Engineering Caucus, ZecHub DAO, and Zcash Brazil on five questions surrounding the next network upgrade.
The results showed broad alignment around 25-second blocks, retiring legacy v4 transactions, and moving NU7 forward, while monetary policy produced more varied responses. Coinholders strongly favored preserving Zcash’s existing halvings and beginning NSM reissuance in February 2031, while other groups expressed different preferences on issuance and timing.
Following the polls, Zcash development organizations agreed to use February 2031 as the current direction for NSM reissuance timing, while leaving room for the question to be revisited in the future.
🛡️ Shielded Labs Receives 200 ZEC Donation
Longtime Zcash holder Dory donated 200 ZEC, worth roughly $235,000 at the time, to Shielded Labs. The contribution will help fund the team’s ongoing work on Zcash, with a focus on the network’s long-term security and sustainability.
Jason, Executive Director of Shielded Labs, thanked Dory for the support, noting that donations like this help the organization remain independently funded.
🌸 Zakura 1.4.0 Brings Major Performance Gains and Formal Verification
Zakura 1.4.0 is now available, bringing major performance improvements to the experimental Zcash implementation. Recent optimization work made proving up to 675% faster on desktop in just 24 days, with even larger gains reported on newer iPhones.
The release also introduces a new zk-SNARK prover for Zakura and Vizor, backed by a machine-checked Lean proof of statistical honest-verifier zero-knowledge, a first for a Zcash prover.
Wallet Updates: Zodl and Zingo
Zodl 3.13.0 is now live on iOS and Android, adding support for all CoinMarketCap fiat currencies for conversion and giving recovery phrase backup reminders priority on the home screen. Android users also get new Swap and CrossPay options for Dash, BCH, and synthetic ZEC on Solana and NEAR, while iOS received several Slipstream sync improvements.
Zingo beta 2.0.23-330 introduces new device authentication and biometric privacy controls, along with improvements to how price data is fetched depending on Mixnet mode. The release also includes several UI, stability, and behind-the-scenes improvements.
ZCG | Meeting Minutes 9/14/2026
Zcash Community Grants reviewed a new round of grant proposals, approving three projects while several other proposals remain open or are still being evaluated.
Approved:
Zcash World, Mumbai (Devcon 8 week) - $20,300 for a shielded-ZEC event, wallet onboarding, merchant adoption, and device benchmarking in Mumbai.
Colosseum | Crypto World’s Fair | Zcash Track - approved after the proposal was revised following the meeting.
24 Videos @zkMarketer - $60,000 for 24 short documentary-style Zcash videos over 12 weeks.
Still under review:
Zcash East Africa @ Africa Blockchain Festival 2026 - remains open while ZCG discusses changes to the proposed payment structure.
ZecScope - remains open while the committee considers concerns around the availability and reliability of data needed for the network upgrade and ZIP tracker.
ZCG also considered several proposals that were ultimately declined, including 0xramp, zcashlib, Zcash Integration in Coin Wallet, Zcash SeedSigner, Security Audit of Zaino, and the Zcash Flutter Wallet SDK.
Zcon7 Speaker Lineup Takes Shape
The Zcash Foundation has shared the speaker lineup for Zcon7, bringing together developers, researchers, community builders, and privacy advocates from across the Zcash ecosystem and beyond.
The three-day program will feature panels, workshops, technical discussions, and debates around Zcash governance, privacy, security, ZSAs, the Dev Fund, and the network’s future direction. Zcon7 takes place October 27–29 in Cancún, Mexico.