Zcash | Arborist Call #94
Zcash Protocol Updates
The Zcash Arborist Calls are bi-weekly protocol development meetings focused on tracking upcoming protocol deployment logistics, consensus node implementation issues, and protocol research.
This summary focuses on the last call that took place on 01/23/2025
@nuttycom began providing updates from the Z|ECC summit.
ECC had a productive summit, generating new ideas.
Significant progress is being made on the Zallet full node wallet, with initial RPC services being developed.
Read the Z|ECC recap by @jswihart:
Arya gave updates on Zebra:
The team has updated the getblockchaininfo method to return information about the genesis block when the state is empty.
RPC client used in tests was updated to use the new JSON RPC crate recently migrated to.
A PR merged for avoiding transforming non-coinbase transactions to Zcash primitives transaction types to check if their outputs are decryptable.
They also merged some preparations for deploying long living instances of Zebra on updates to the main branch.
Requirements have been received by @thecodebffet on 1 exchange & 1 mining pool, information from more ecosystem partners is still expected.
ECC has noted there will be a timeline delay on some work of zcashd deprecation impacting the expected date NU7 from August to October.
@ZingoLabs work on Zaino will be accelerated to reach Milestone 2.
@thecodebuffet and additional team members being brought on.
Code walkthroughs from ECC will be recorded, informing developers involved and eventually intending to assemble a school of reviewers for librustzcash.
Following on from discussions & planning at Z|ECC Summit, the approach is to get Zallet to a point where its suitable for integration into build systems and deployment pipelines as quickly as possible, ahead of functionality.
This will enable external partners to start integrating and give iterative feedback and improvements to it...
Targeting end of February for all of the surrounding infrastructure being in place. If a use case is supported by @zashi_app or mobile SDKs it'll be usable in Zallet by then.
In March, additional exposure of features that zcashd wallet has uniquely served the community to begin.
@ElectricCoinCo is intending to proceed with a Docker-first deployment strategy - the simplest possible thing will be to run Docker Compose and have the correct services running.
The ZSA integration meeting was held last week. There was an audit concern - API documentation was noted for improvement.
ZIP editors also discussed changes @qeditzkp proposed for integrating the atomic swap-related transaction changes into the v6 transaction format preemptively.
@str4d shared a design for NU7 sighash changes in NU7 such that it will not be necessary to define what the sighash changes will be for atomic swaps now.
@aquietinvestor introduced Sam Smith, the new Core Engineer at @ShieldedLabs
Sam and @Nate_ZEC are turning their attention towards building a prototype for Crosslink!
They'll have an update on the next Arborist call - February 6th.
@conradoplg & team has been adding broadcast channel support for the demo of the FROST client tool
Documentation for the demo & the signing tool, allowing you to sign a transaction plan generated from Ywallet has also been updated.
With this the FROST project is near complete!
To wrap things up @ZcashFoundation will hold a community call in the next 2 weeks showing the current status of the demo & how it works...
The ideal outcome is for wallet developers to start planning integration of FROST - some conversations already happening with @ZingoLabs!
FROST completion is also necessary for the @reddevinc Zcash <-> @Avalanche redbridge.
@ShieldedLabs has updated the Network Sustainability Mechanism ZIPs to remove any mention of "burning":
ZIP 233 now introduces a "mechanism to remove from circulation."
ZIP 234 smooths issuance curves and recycles removed coins into future block rewards...
ZIP 235 removes 60% of txn fees to support network sustainability.
The new updates are under review - comments received from @Str4d and @FeministPLT.
Integration work can now start, even with the recent change to NU7 timeline, Feature flags allow any changes to avoid conflicts.
The @ElectricCoinCo reassessment of the timeline was the main focus.
One cause of delay was the sudden pivot to hardware wallet support.
Zcash now has shielded hardware wallets & Partially Constructed Zcash Transactions (PCZT) but also means that other things were pushed back.
@JackGavigan raised the possibility of a reduction in scope for NU7.
This is possible as some new protocol additions can be isolated such as the transaction format changes for ZSA.
@jswihart asked as to whether the lockbox timeframe should be extended in presenting two options:
Include a 1-year extension in NU7 (activating only if ZSAs & other upgrades aren't ready by November).
Introduce an earlier Network Upgrade 6.5*, decoupling the lockbox from NU7
Community Feedback is needed!
In Open Announcements Zancas raised the issue of librustzcash being bound to just a few core developers and the importance of diffusing that knowledge.
The @JoinEdgeCity pop up city movement would be an ideal venue for a librustzcash cluster to form!
The @ZcashFoundation Dev Summit is planned just before @zkproof & @RealWorldCrypto in Sofia, Bulgaria.
The structured day is Saturday, March 22, followed by an unstructured co-working day, March 23.
The event will be developer-focused: https://zfnd.org/zcash-dev-summits/
The next @ElectricCoinCo Z|ECC summit in Prague is tentatively is scheduled for the week of July 7th. It will be a mix of structured sessions as well as a possible hacker house.
Mark your calendars for now, announcements and signups to follow!
@nuttycom shared a method to deprecate Zcash Sprout:
