Zcash, the cryptocurrency known for its focus on privacy, announced the retirement of its original codebase, zcashd, scheduled for this year, 2025.

Zooko Wilcox, co-founder and former CEO of Electric Coin Company (the company behind the development of Zcash), alluded to this announcement on the social network X. There he mentioned that the migration would be made to a “rewritten, more secure and better” codebase than the one “they inherited from Satoshi Nakamoto.”

Zooko Wilcox-O'Hearn, co-founder and former CEO of Electric Coin Company

The zcashd software has served as the backbone for Zcash full nodes and wallets. Its replacement consists of two new components: zebrad, designed for full nodes, and Zallet, focused on ZEC wallets.

Users of zcashd version 6.2.0 or higher should add a specific configuration line (i-am-aware-zcashd-will-be-replaced-by-zebrad-and-zallet-in-2025=1) to indicate that they are aware of the announced change.

The Zcash statement also warns that some JSON-RPC methods used to interact with the software may require modification or may not be compatible with the new code. Zcash encourages the community to provide feedback on their current use of these methods. This process can be done through a spreadsheet available on its support site. The team emphasizes the importance of this collaboration for a smooth transition.

Implications for the Zcash community 

The retirement of zcashd has significant implications for users and developers who rely on the current Zcash infrastructure. Node operators and wallet users will need to update their systems and, in some cases, adapt their applications to ensure compatibility with zebrad and Zallet.

ZEC is at risk of being delisted from Binance, the most prominent cryptocurrency exchange currently. However, the focus on updating its technical infrastructure demonstrates Zcash's determination to stay at the forefront of the cryptocurrency space, especially when it comes to privacy, one of its defining features thanks to technologies like zk-SNARKs.