Zcash Shielded News | Vol.6
Z | ECC Summit, Ledger Releases Shielded Zcash, My First Zcash Video Contest, Controlled Burn & Zebra NU6 Audit Report
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
The Electric Coin Company announced this week another Z | ECC Summit in Cancun, Mexico, from January 13-16, approximately one year after its first edition.
The ECC Summit is an in-person gathering of enthusiasts and community members who want to improve Zcash. Everyone is welcome to join workshops, brainstorming sessions, and more, all off-camera.
Based on the Z | ECC Summit, the ECC will better understand what needs to be done, improved, or removed from its 2025 roadmap.
Participants will share their experiences from the event, keeping us informed about what happened and what plans are being made. So, if you’re in Mexico or nearby on these dates, don’t miss this opportunity. → Z | ECC Summit - January 13-16th
Undoubtedly, the Zcash-Ledger integration has been one of the most anticipated developments in recent years!
The Zondax team has finally officially launched the new Zcash Shielded Ledger app, supported by Nano S, Nano S Plus, Flex, and Stax devices.
This new app can be found in Ledger Live under the name "zcash shielded."
Currently, the only desktop wallet that supports this new device is a fork of the ZEC wallet, adapted to be compatible with the new Ledger app. More information can be found here.
Although Zondax acknowledges that this is not an ideal solution, the team is actively collaborating and providing support to other wallets that wish to integrate hardware wallet support, such as Zingo, Zashi, yWallet, and others.
The app has been developed to be compatible with the Nano X. However, despite ongoing efforts, there is a persistent issue with Nano X devices. The device takes too long to compute keys, triggering a watchdog. Zondax is working closely with the Ledger firmware team to find a solution for this.
Another video contest is live! 🚀
Following the Zashi-Coinbase clips and Bitcoin Takeover episodes with Josh & Nuttycom, the ZecHub SubDAO has launched its first video contest featuring the book My First Zcash.
You may have heard about MFZ, but in short, it’s an educational book inspired by My First Bitcoin. Its goal is to simplify privacy and Zcash for young people and curious learners.
The total prize pool is 15 ZEC, which will be divided among the top three winners in the categories of most viral video, best editing, and best creativity.
All you need to do is create a 30-second to 1-minute video highlighting the My First Zcash project, post it on Twitter using the hashtags #MyFirstZcash and #Zcash.
This will validate your entry, and on November 30, the SubDAO will announce the winners.
This week brought great updates on ECC's progress, no doubt. However, Josh once again shared life lessons alongside reflections on what we've experienced with Zcash this year.
We were introduced to the first ten years of Josh's life on a property near Montrose, Colorado, where he helped his family chop wood and fill the large containers in the family’s entryway.
Josh assisted his father in burning channels and fields where weeds had grown or grass needed clearing so that meltwater could flow, preparing the land for new sprouts in the spring. Josh loved the fire—the heat of the flames, the smell of the grass, and the sense of seriousness and danger it evoked.
Although fire is dangerous, a controlled burn is just that: controlled. It is deliberate, focused, and extremely effective at reducing risk and encouraging growth. The ECC and the community have undergone something similar this year—clearing out what needed to go and making changes to enable growth.
For the ECC, this meant breaking down internal silos, reshaping operations, and giving the team a voice. It meant inviting the community to participate and equipping the ECC team to launch a wallet for the first time. It meant eliminating distractions and returning to the core reason many of us are here: to build a private and decentralized electronic currency.
For the broader Zcash community, the ECC united efforts to reform governance, funding, and power structures, including more voices and fostering greater accountability.
We are still in the midst of controlled burns, such as deprecating zcashd, moving deliberately and effectively to clear out the old and make way for the new.
This year, the Zcash community has tackled tough challenges, positioning everyone to thrive in the coming months. This week, NU6 will be activated, changes in developer funding will take effect, and Zcash’s issuance will be reduced (halving) for the second time in our history. Onward!
ECC Progress
Zashi 📱
Zashi Design
Explorations in multisig wallet designs have continued.
Improvements to Seed Phrase/Recovery designs are underway.
Ongoing work on illustrated icons (for key app screens).
High-priority focus on hardware wallet integration designs for Keystone.
iOS 🍎
Unique Installs: 3.95k
Total Downloads: 4.68k
AppStore Rating: 4.9*
A security issue was reported this week.
Finished work on Sending screens (sending/success/failure).
Fixed broken navigation in Zashi’s rescan feature.
Re-implemented Address Book Encryption according to the agreed-upon code design.
Conducted scenario testing.
Performed cross-check testing (ensuring Android files work on iOS and vice versa).
Addressed review comments.
Merged all code into the feature branch for the next release.
Keystone Integration:
Held an initial meeting with the team.
Fixed and built the demo app.
Animated QR player/scanner is a work in progress (WIP).
Android 🤖
Total Install Base: 2.35k
Total Installs (incl. Open Beta): 8.77k
PlayStore Rating: 4.656
Flexa Integration: Integrated but currently behind a feature flag (awaiting the release of Flexa 1.0.6 with fixes).
App Localization: Spanish localization finalized and merged.
UI Fixes: Corrected shielded icon behavior in the Transaction History.
Address Book Encryption: Nearly complete and currently under review.
Bug Fixes: Resolved several newly introduced bugs.
Keystone Integration: Began analysis for the next steps in Keystone integration.
Others 🌐
Maya Integration: ECC met with the Maya team this week. They plan to release version 1.1.2 next week, then focus on ZEC support for version 1.1.3.
Testing could take 4-8 weeks, providing a test server for ECC.
yWallet and Edge are expected to be ready by activation or shortly after.
ECC aims to integrate Zashi after Keystone wallet support is completed.
ECC Leadership Updates:
The leadership team has been reshuffled with recent changes.
Andrea and Peacemonger joined Daira, Tonym, and Josh on the core team.
ECC is looking for someone to join the core team! Check out the job description and apply here.
Quarterly Meeting:
ECC/Bootstrap conducted their Q4 board meeting this week.
The focus was primarily on revenue generation possibilities and long-term sustainability.
Governance and Funding:
Now is the time to begin discussions on governance and funding for the future.
Josh shared a topic inviting community involvement.
Zcash Media Content:
Zcash Media released a series of clips on X featuring Josh’s interview from a few years ago.
As the security leader of the Zcash ecosystem and following guidance from the Zcash Community Grants (ZCG) program, Least Authority reviewed the changes made to Zebra that will be introduced in the NU6 network upgrade.
Zebra is an independent, consensus-compatible implementation of a Zcash node, written in Rust.
Below, we provide a brief summary of the analysis, but if you're a curious developer, feel free to read the full audit.
Project Dates
August 22, 2024 - September 6, 2024: Initial Code Review (Completed)
September 10, 2024: Delivery of Initial Audit Report (Completed)
November 8, 2024: Verification Analysis (Completed)
November 8, 2024: Delivery of Final Audit Report (Completed)
Review Team
Poulami Das - Security / Cryptography Researcher & Engineer
Nikos Iliakis - Security Researcher & Engineer
Xenofon Mitakidis - Security Researcher & Engineer
Target Code and Review
The following code repository is considered within the scope of the review:
Specifically, Least Authority reviewed the following Git revisions for the initial analysis:
Initial Analysis Git Revision:
c32c4f6fec158ad412b981e36fa148e4447ee70d
For the verification, the following Git revision was reviewed:
Verification Git Revision:
46c6b6eb38617c07e8a130650b33831759b73263
For the review, this repository was cloned for use during the audit and for reference in the final report published by Least Authority:
Repository Used in Audit: https://github.com/LeastAuthority/zcashfoundation-zebra
All file references in this document use Unix-style paths relative to the project's root directory.
General Comments
Least Authority reviewed the documentation provided for the ZIPs listed in ZIP 253 and compared it with the implementation of the NU6 upgrade.
The key changes are implemented across various PRs, as detailed in the "Target Code & Review" section, and include new consensus rules, such as the updated block template construction and block validation rules that check for the correct balance of coinbase transactions. Additionally, changes were made to the block subsidy distribution between the two funding flow recipients: the Financial Privacy Foundation (FPF) and the treasury.
The implementation was also evaluated for correctness, with a focus on the potential for balance violations and fund loss. No issues were found in the implementation for these attack scenarios. However, two suggestions were identified related to inconsistencies between the documentation and code comments, as well as other implementations:
Suggestion 1: Update code comments and ZIP documentation.
Suggestion 2: Improve error handling and avoid using panic.