Zcash Ironwood Upgrade: What Changes on July 28

July 28 is a real line in the sand for Zcash. Ironwood is switching on, and a lot of behind-the-scenes plumbing changes the way shielded ZEC moves. If you run a node, operate a wallet, or just hold some ZEC in a personal app, you probably want the short version of what breaks, what keeps working, and what to do next.

The quick headline: a new shielded pool comes online with a guarded bridge called a turnstile. The old Orchard pool stops accepting new outputs. And the legacy zcashd client has already tapped out, so Zebra is the way forward for nodes.

Let’s walk through it cleanly so you can make a plan, not scramble at the last minute.

Aspect What to Know Activation Ironwood (NU6.3) is set to activate at mainnet block 3,428,143, expected around 13:00 UTC on July 28, per Zebra 6.0.0 release notes Zcash Foundation (Zebra 6.0.0 release). Client support zcashd reached end of support on July 18 at block 3,417,100 and refuses to restart ahead of NU6.3. Run Zebra 6.0.0 or newer The zcashd Book (Zcash docs). Shielded pools Orchard is retired for new deposits and outputs after activation. A new Ironwood shielded pool takes over for fresh shielded activity crypto.news (coverage of Ironwood/NU6.3 deployment). Turnstile A constrained bridge controls value leaving Orchard and entering the new pool, enabling independent supply checks after the Orchard vulnerability crypto.news (coverage of Ironwood/NU6.3 deployment). Testnet Testnet activation completed July 4 at block 4,134,000, so most tooling had a dress rehearsal The zcashd Book (Zcash docs). Impact on users Stop using Orchard addresses for new receipts. Update wallets that add Ironwood support. Plan migrations after activation if you still hold Orchard notes. Risk surface Outdated software, stuck deposits to Orchard, and mismatched wallet versions are the main hazards around activation.

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