ZEC jumps after Orchard fix, but is the worst really over now?

ZEC, the native coin of the Zcash ecosystem, is the best performer among the top 20 cryptocurrencies by market cap. 

The coin has bounced back by over 40% since dropping below $250 on Friday, following the Orchard bug report. 

The momentum indicators suggest that the bearish trend is fading, with the bulls now targeting the $500 psychological level. 

ZODL details a two-step emergency response to the Zero-Knowledge bug

ZEC is outperforming the broader cryptocurrency market after adding 9% to its value in the last 24 hours. 

The rally comes after Josh Swihart, founder of Zcash Open Development Lab (ZODL), revealed new details on how the Zcash development team responded to a critical vulnerability in its Orchard shielded pool. 

In a post on X, Swihart said ZODL executed a coordinated two-stage emergency upgrade to contain the issue and prevent potential exploitation.

The first step involved a soft fork that temporarily disabled Orchard transactions, aiming to reduce the risk of exploitation while limiting public disclosure of the full vulnerability details.

Swihart said this approach was designed to balance network security with responsible disclosure, ensuring the issue could be contained without exposing sensitive technical weaknesses.

Orchard is Zcash’s primary shielded transaction pool, enabling fully private transfers using zero-knowledge proofs that conceal transaction details while still validating their legitimacy.

A second upgrade, referred to as NU6.2, was activated on June 3 to address the root cause of the vulnerability and restore Orchard functionality.

The update re-enabled shielded transactions after the underlying issue was resolved, according to Swihart.

He also noted that mining pools and infrastructure operators, including ViaBTC and Foundry, played a key role in coordinating the emergency response and reviewing the updated code.

This latest development comes after a disclosure from independent support group Shielded Labs, which reported a severe flaw in the Orchard pool that could have allowed unlimited minting of counterfeit Zcash tokens.

The report resulted in ZEC losing nearly 60% of its value, dropping from $644 on Wednesday to $248 by Friday. 

Although the vulnerability was fixed before any confirmed exploitation, the revelation triggered significant concern across the crypto community about the protocol’s security guarantees.

ZEC eyes the $500 psychological level

The ZEC/USD 4-hour remains bearish despite the recent recovery. At press time, ZEC is trading above $420, up by roughly 9% in the last 24-hours.

ZEC is now trading above its 200-day EMA at $364, while hovering around its 100-day Exponential Moving Average (EMA) at $428.

If the bullish recovery continues and ZEC closes above the $428 level, it could extend its recovery towards the 50-day EMA at $485, followed by the $500 psychological threshold.

The Relative Strength Index (RSI) near 50 on the 4-hour chart indicates a declining bearish momentum, while the negative Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) falls below its zero line as the bearish profile expands. 

However, if the bearish trend resumes, the sellers would encounter immediate support around the $364 region.