Zcash's recently patched Orchard Pool vulnerability continues to spark debate in the market. Foreign media reports indicate that some investors are concerned this flaw could allow attackers to forge an unlimited number of protected ZEC tokens. However, Dragonfly partner Haseeb Qureshi believes the market's assessment of the short-term impact may be overly optimistic. Meanwhile, he stated that Dragonfly still holds ZEC tokens.
Will the risk spill over to the entire market?
Qureshi's core argument is that even if someone exploits the vulnerability to generate counterfeit protected ZEC, it will typically still need to be converted to ZEC under a transparent address before it can be sold on major exchanges. Because transparent supply can be audited, abnormal inflows are more easily identified by the network.
Following this logic, the primary users directly exposed to the risk are those using privacy pools, not all ZEC holders or exchange users. He believes this means the potential damage from the vulnerability may not immediately spread throughout the market.
Another concern: the possibility of long-term transfer within a privacy pool.
However, not everyone agrees with this assessment. Zcash founder Wei Dai believes that attackers may not empty the Orchard Pool all at once, so the lack of obvious abnormal outflows does not prove that the vulnerability has not been exploited.
He proposed a scenario where attackers could use Orchard Pool itself as a laundering channel, keeping counterfeit ZEC within the protected system for extended periods before gradually distributing and transferring it through privacy transactions. In this way, while maintaining its operation, the privacy pool could also conceal abnormal fund flows.
Wei Dai also mentioned another possibility: if someone discovers the vulnerability earlier, theoretically they could establish a large short position in ZEC before the news is made public. Since ZEC has a highly liquid perpetual contract market, such operations could potentially generate substantial profits while leaving little to no obvious trace.
The team is preparing to implement a new mechanism to verify supplies.
Despite the controversy, Qureshi remains optimistic about Zcash's future fixes. He mentioned that the Zcash team is planning to introduce a new turnstile mechanism and establish new protected pools to verify whether the supply in existing pools has been abnormally amplified.
He likened this process to a "roll call" after an event, aimed at confirming whether any additional tokens had been mixed into circulation. If the new mechanism proceeds smoothly, the outside world will be able to more clearly determine whether Orchard Pool has experienced any abnormal issuance.
Qureshi also disclosed that Dragonfly still holds ZEC, and he personally continues to hold ZODL. This statement indicates that, while the controversy surrounding the security of privacy coins has not yet subsided, the relevant investors have not completely withdrawn their positions.
