The Zakura team, responsible for Zcash client development, plans to integrate post-quantum signature opcodes into the protocol by January 2027. This update aims to mitigate risks associated with transparent addresses, which expose public keys during transactions. The new mechanism will verify signatures using hashes to confirm authorization for fund transfers.
Developers recommend combining this approach with address rotation, where remaining balances are moved to new addresses after spending. Additionally, Zakura is working on Private Information Retrieval to enhance privacy when querying infrastructure. This feature, already available in the Vizor wallet, allows users to fetch transaction history without revealing specific addresses to servers.
Data from ZecStats indicates that approximately 11.96 million ZEC out of 16.98 million in circulation reside in the transparent pool. Consequently, the post-quantum strategy primarily targets the public segment of the network. Separate protections will be required for shielded transactions to address future security threats.
The industry-wide focus on quantum resistance has intensified following warnings from Ethereum researcher Justin Drake regarding the potential vulnerability of the ECDSA signature algorithm. Other projects are also taking action: the Ethereum Foundation has outlined a roadmap for quantum defense by 2029, and various other blockchain entities are exploring similar security upgrades.
