Zcash development team plans to introduce post-quantum signature mechanisms in January next year, with around 70% of ZEC still held in transparent address pools.

Privacy-focused public blockchain Zcash’s development team plans to introduce quantum-resistant signature-related opcodes to the network in January 2027, enabling hash-based signature verification for transactions to mitigate threats to wallet key security posed by future quantum computing breakthroughs. However, the official activation timeline for this feature has not yet been finalized. Zakura engineer Roman Akhtariev stated that the team plans to integrate post-quantum signature opcodes into Zcash next January. This mechanism aims to prevent attackers from deriving private keys from public keys and forging transaction authorizations, with the upgrade focusing on Zcash’s transparent transaction system. Data shows that as of Thursday, approximately 11.96 million ZEC are held in transparent address pools, accounting for around 70% of the total 16.98 million ZEC in circulation. Transparent transactions disclose addresses and transaction amounts, while shielded transactions hide details such as senders, recipients, and amounts. Additionally, Zakura has launched a wallet balance query tool based on Private Information Retrieval (PIR), allowing users to check address balances without exposing the queried address list to servers. The experimental version of this tool is now available via the "Private queries" setting in the Zcash wallet Vizor. Previously, Ethereum researcher Justin Drake warned that AI-assisted attacks could accelerate the risk of breaking existing cryptographic systems, advising crypto holders to prepare for a "Bunker Mode" in extreme scenarios. However, no practical quantum attacks targeting the keys of major mainstream crypto wallets have been confirmed to date.