Zcash's trust as a currency is broken after a flaw allowing counterfeit tokens was exposed, and it could be sold to zero. Per @BullTheoryio, researcher Taylor Hornby used Claude Opus to build a working proof of concept that minted fake ZEC through a bug hidden in the Orchard privacy pool since 2022. It was patched June 2, but Zcash's privacy design makes it impossible to know whether fake ZEC was minted before the fix. ZEC fell over 50% in a day, and any rebound should crash again. x.com  x.com  … Show more

Zcash is a higher-risk store of value because bugs in its proof system have made undetectable counterfeiting possible. Those bugs have been exploited twice, and nobody can verify whether counterfeit ZEC was created. Litecoin's MWEB privacy layer had a validation bug exploited to mint 85,000 counterfeit LTC, showing privacy-focused monetary systems can introduce real security and supply risks. Their privacy can still make them useful for moving funds quickly and privately. x.com 

Zcash has rebounded about 70% because developers delivered what it needed most, verifiable proof on the counterfeit-coin question, removing the uncertainty markets fear more than bad news. ZEC had lost billions not because counterfeit coins were confirmed, but because nobody could prove whether they existed. x.com 

Zcash's privacy makes critical bugs undetectable, so a flaw could let someone print unlimited ZEC and dump it unnoticed. Two critical infinite-mint bugs have now been found, possibly more, and everyone is hunting for them with AI; unlike transparent Bitcoin, such inflation cannot be automatically detected. Regulation also leaves no viable path to adoption, since no AML-compliant company can accept it. x.com  x.com  x.com  x.com  x.com 

Zcash is running what amounts to an unlimited mint scam, and the timing alongside Mert's move to Dubai is oddly suspicious. x.com 

Zcash's privacy is its lasting edge because bank accounts may never become private, while quantum resistance should become a requirement for all survivors. Its public transactions make institutional integration easier than Monero's, giving it a larger potential market. Monero has value and is probably oversold, though FCMP++ has no clear timeline. Institutions' comfort with Zcash could fade if governments clamp down. x.com  x.com  x.com  x.com  x.com  x.com 

Zcash's shrinking PoW security budget makes a full move to PoS essential to its survival. Fees cover only 0.01% of its mining subsidy; miners have incentives to resist, while centralized governance lacks a workable stakeholder vote. Crosslink improves on PoW but keeps both systems' drawbacks; it could serve as a political bridge to full PoS and stakeholder governance. A "ZEC Classic" split is now probable depending on how factions act, and a vote may be too late to prevent it. x.com  x.com  x.com 

Zcash's store-of-value case falls apart if an AI model like Opus 4.8 can one-shot a critical bug in it, which makes parking wealth there as an inflation hedge hard to trust. The tradeoff Zcash makes leaves it uninvestable for almost every institution. x.com  x.com 

ZEC remains worth backing through uncertain AI and quantum threats because its development team has shown the ability to ship quickly enough to adapt as threats emerge; forecasting which cryptographic technology will hold up over medium to long horizons is difficult. x.com 

Zcash is done after a bug let anyone freely mint ZEC, and its privacy narrative is not showing up in actual demand. Outside niche uses, Zcash processes fewer than 10,000 transactions a day, about a third of Monero's and well below chains like Berachain and Monad that many consider dead. A 21 million supply cap is not unique, and privacy belongs inside protocols like Ethereum and big wallets rather than in standalone privacy tokens. x.com