Zcash Hands Out $8 Million in Retroactive Grants After AI Bug Crisis

Zcash has seemingly put its AI bug crisis behind it after cofounder Bryce Wilcox-O'Hearn, also known as Zooko on X, announced the distribution of over $8 million in retroactive grants.

The grants include millions of dollars to those who selflessly worked to protect users during the crisis. One notable recipient is Taylor Hornby, a security engineer who found and disclosed an undetected vulnerability in the Orchard circuit using Anthropic's AI model.

Hornby's discovery led to the development of the Zcash Ironwood Upgrade (NU6.3), which was activated on July 28, 2026, to resolve the four-year-old counterfeiting bug and seal the vulnerable Orchard shielded pool.

The cofounder emphasized that this incident demonstrated Zcash's ability to fund contributors retrospectively through a broader governance mechanism.