Zcash developer program supports quantum-resistant signatures in January, initial protection for transparent transactions

The Zcash development team plans to add post-quantum signature support to the network in January. Zakura engineer Roman Akhtariev stated in an engineering blog that the team plans to implement post-quantum signature opcodes in Zcash in January. These opcodes will enable Zcash to verify hash-based signatures, thereby resisting quantum computing attacks. The team has not yet confirmed a specific network activation date. This upgrade aims to prevent attackers from using current public keys to reverse-engineer and forge payment authorizations from wallet owners.

The initial phase of this upgrade will protect transparent transactions. Zcash has two payment methods: shielded payments hide the sender, receiver, and amount; transparent payments are similar to Bitcoin, where addresses and amounts are visible on the chain. According to CoinDesk, based on ZecStats data, approximately 11.96 million of the 16.98 million issued ZEC are stored in the transparent pool, accounting for about 70%. The January plan primarily targets this public portion. Additionally, Zakura has developed a private query tool that allows wallets to check balances without exposing associated addresses to the server; the experimental version is available in the "Private queries" settings of the Zcash wallet Vizor.

Before the release of Zakura's engineering article, Ethereum researcher Justin Drake warned holders on Thursday to prepare for what he called "bunker mode," stating that in the worst-case scenario, AI could find shortcuts to break the mathematical protections of Bitcoin and Ethereum wallets in "months rather than years."