Someone just went shopping for discounted Zcash. A newly created wallet withdrew 37,316 ZEC, worth approximately $13.12M, from Binance on June 5. The timing is what makes it interesting: the move came right after ZEC’s price cratered as much as 50% following the disclosure of a serious security flaw in the protocol.
The vulnerability that tanked ZEC
On May 29, security researcher Taylor Hornby discovered a critical vulnerability in Zcash’s Orchard shielded transaction pool. The flaw, which had gone undetected since Orchard’s activation in May 2022, could theoretically allow someone to create counterfeit ZEC out of thin air.
The market’s reaction was swift and brutal. ZEC tumbled from around $624 on June 4 to roughly $309 by June 5. Liquidations across the broader market exceeded $80M as leveraged traders got wiped out. Notable crypto figure Arthur Hayes exited his ZEC positions amid the turmoil.
Zcash developers moved quickly to contain the damage. An emergency soft fork went live around June 2, temporarily disabling Orchard transactions to prevent any potential exploitation. A hard fork followed on June 3, restoring functionality after developers confirmed there was no evidence the vulnerability had actually been exploited in the wild.
