- Users asked to be extra careful
- Zcash had lately been infiltrated with bugs
- Zcash mulling privacy features via Ethereum
Members of the Zcash (ZEC) community have encountered a version of the ZecWallet that’s suspected to be a malicious counterfeit of the original. Users have been urged to be extra careful when downloading the ZecWallet.
Contains Malware
The Zcash Foundation posted a notice on Twitter on October 20, 2019, and which was re-tweeted by Zcash developer Electric Coin Company warning that the counterfeit ZecWallet was likely to contain malware and they should only download it from the firm’s official website. The tweet stated:
?⚠️ PSA to all Zcash users! There is a fake version of ZecWallet that likely contains malware (size and checksum is different) double check you are downloading from official @zecwallet repo on GitHub: https://t.co/EpMyH5iCdp @ElectricCoinCo @ZcashFoundation @zooko pic.twitter.com/N9HklOH6gn
— mine Zcash ᙇ?️ᙇ (@mineZcash) October 20, 2019
https://github.com/ZcashFoundation/zecwallet”
Zcash (ZEC) has recently been infiltrated by bugs in its several implementations and forks and there is a fear that the current one could easily leak metadata containing the full nodes’ with shielded addresses IPs. Late last week, leading cybersecurity firm ESET discovered a counterfeit version of Tor Browser pretending to be the official Russian language version of the browser; some Darknet shoppers lost funds to the counterfeit Tor browser.
The cybersecurity firm also flagged another malware called “Casbaneiro” or “Metamorfo,” a malware that targeted banks and cryptocurrency service providers based in Mexico and Brazil. Users had lost over $10,000 in digital currencies before it was flagged down.
Possibility of Interoperability
Currently, there are plans by the ZEC community to develop a ZEC token that will function on the Ethereum blockchain which is expected to take part in the network’s decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem. The firm’s Vice President of marketing and business development, Josh Swihart, hinted that they could release the development within the next six months.
Should the plans for integration happen successfully, there is hope that the privacy-focused ZEC token will offer completely anonymous, automated loans and transactions through the Ethereum network. They also hint the developers at the possibility of interoperability which would allow the privacy features of ZEC to be applied to smart contracts. Swihart explained:
“If you want to do lending, if you want to do DAOs [decentralized autonomous organizations], all of that stuff could be done with ZCash as well. … Ultimately, we want ZCash shielded [addresses] to be usable in Ethereum smart contracts.”
ZCash (ZEC) was designed with a promise to be a cryptographically protected, anonymous magic version of internet money. The coin was among the later arrivals to the crypto party, with a high-profile launch in 2016. Immediately, the hype and the bull market took ZCL prices to the equivalent of nearly $6,000, and most people believed it was going to replace bitcoin (BTC). However, ZEC has experienced a fair share of trouble this year.