The privacy-focused cryptocurrency Zcash (ZEC) is facing a severe crisis after its founder confirmed a critical bug existed in its Orchard protocol for four years. The vulnerability, which could mint unlimited counterfeit ZEC, was active from May 2022 until it was patched on June 1, 2026. This revelation has triggered a sharp market reaction, with CoinGecko data showing ZEC’s price plummeting over 36% in 24 hours, despite the asset maintaining a significant rally since June 2025.
The founder of Zcash recently confirmed a critical Orchard bug capable of creating unlimited fake ZEC. This security breach remained in the system from May 2022 until it was patched on June 1, 2026.
The bug was only identified following the Claude Opus 4.8 update, causing significant concern within the ZEC community. This incident marks another major challenge for the project in 2026, following the earlier resignation of its entire core development team.
In January, the entire development team at the Electric Coin Company (ECC) resigned en masse due to internal differences. ECC CEO Josh Swihart stated that the platform made it impossible to work with integrity.
ZEC had previously crashed after the ECC exit but rebounded quickly, largely driven by increased demand for privacy-focused cryptocurrencies. The latest crisis, however, presents a potential advantage for other privacy coins like Monero (XMR).
