Zcash developers are targeting January to add support for hash-based signatures designed to withstand quantum attacks, but no network activation date has been confirmed. The proposed instructions would let the network verify spending approvals using hashes rather than current public-key methods.
The initial upgrade would focus on transparent transactions, where addresses and amounts are visible. Shielded payments conceal the sender, recipient and amount and require separate quantum safeguards.
The change is intended to address a possible weakness in which an attacker could use a disclosed public key to forge approval for a wallet’s funds. Transparent addresses initially hide public keys behind hashes, but spending reveals the key; moving remaining funds to a fresh address hides them behind an undisclosed key again.
Zcash developer Roman Akhtariev outlined the January target for Zakura, software used to run the network and validate transactions. The plan followed an Ethereum researcher’s warning that artificial intelligence could, in a worst-case scenario, help find a shortcut through the mathematics protecting major cryptocurrency wallets within months. No practical attack on those wallet keys has been demonstrated.
Zakura has also developed a private lookup tool for balance checks. It uses private information retrieval so a wallet can request records without revealing to a server which addresses it is checking. An experimental version is available through the Private queries setting in the Vizor wallet, while the related payments remain public.