Zcash founder Zooko Wilcox unveiled a proposal for the 'Ironwood' upgrade, aimed at restoring trust in the privacy coin's supply after a critical bug disclosure. The bug, revealed by Shielded Labs, allowed creation of unlimited counterfeit tokens before being patched. Due to Zcash's privacy features, it was impossible to determine if the vulnerability was exploited. Ironwood would let users verify circulating supply by summing active pool balances. The announcement coincided with Zcash's price recovery, still below Friday's peak. The upgrade includes new shielded pools, transaction restrictions, and AI-assisted auditing. CEO Mert Mumtaz called it 'bullish,' addressing core tradeoffs between privacy and auditability.

Key facts

• Critical bug allowed creation of unlimited counterfeit Zcash tokens before patch.
• Ironwood upgrade lets users verify total supply by summing shielded pool balances.
• Zcash price recovered to ~$7.5B market cap, down 30% from Friday's peak.
• Upgrade includes AI-assisted auditing and new transaction logic to prevent future bugs.
• Supporters like Mert Mumtaz view Ironwood as bullish for Zcash's core tradeoff.