Zcash rose 7.26% to $501.62 as developers set the Ironwood mainnet upgrade for July 28, giving traders a clear date for a network fix tied to the Orchard shielded-pool counterfeiting flaw.
Zcash Ironwood Upgrade Targets July 28
Zcash developer Sean Bowe said the Ironwood mainnet activation height has been set at block 3,428,143, expected around July 28 at 8 a.m. EST. He said major organizations supporting Zcash are committed to activating NU6.3 at that height.
The upgrade follows the discovery of a soundness flaw in the Orchard shielded pool in late May. The bug could have allowed fake ZEC to be created without immediate detection, raising concern because Orchard is part of Zcash’s privacy infrastructure.
Zcash developers responded with emergency patches in early June. A soft fork temporarily disabled the Orchard pool, followed by additional network changes to limit the risk while the longer-term Ironwood fix was prepared.
Ironwood will introduce a new shielded pool based on revised Orchard code. A key feature is a public accounting checkpoint, often called a turnstile, that requires funds moving from the old Orchard pool to pass through a visible checkpoint before entering the new pool.
ZEC Recovers After Orchard Bug Selloff
ZEC fell sharply after the Orchard flaw was disclosed, with reports placing the decline near 50% and the price bottoming close to $300. The token has since recovered, supported by emergency patches and the planned Ironwood activation.
Santiment said ZEC social volume reached 1,116 mentions on June 5, the same day the token formed a local low near $362. The analytics firm said social volume later dropped to between 24 and 69 mentions per day, even as the price recovered.
Source: Santiment
Santiment described the pattern by saying, “The noise marked the bottom. The silence is marking the repair.” That view reflects social data, not a confirmed price signal.
At press time, Zcash stood at $501.62, up 7.26% over the past 24 hours. Traders are watching whether the July 28 upgrade can restore confidence after the bug and support further recovery.
Analysts Are Watching $800 Resistance
MCO Global’s chart analysis said ZEC remains in a correction despite its recent rebound. The analyst said the larger pattern may still be a wave four correction, with ZEC possibly forming a triangle before its next larger move.
Another possible path cited by the analysis is a WXY correction. Under that view, ZEC could revisit a deeper support area before attempting another move higher.
Source: X
The main support zone was placed between $90 and $203, while major resistance sits near $800. The analysis also pointed to weekly Fibonacci retracement levels at 38.2%, 50% and 61.8% inside the support area.
On shorter time frames, ZEC recently traded around the $450 to $470 area after a strong rebound. The move above $500 puts attention back on the Ironwood upgrade, audit results, and whether migration through the public checkpoint confirms ZEC supply integrity.
