News linked to both this project and an event.
Odaily News: ZEC treasury company Cypherpunk Technologies (Nasdaq: CYPH) has released its Q2 2026 financial report, posting a net profit of $39.39 million, or $0.18 diluted earnings per share; in the same period last year, the company reported a net loss of $16.64 million and an operating loss of $4.69 million. R&D expenses stood at $0.2 million, down from $10.54 million in the same period last year, primarily due to the completion of clinical trials; general and administrative expenses reached $4.49 million, up $2.75 million year-over-year, mainly driven by increased stock-based compensation. As of June 30, the company's cash balance was $7.6 million. During Q2, the ZEC price rose from $243.35 to $400.09, generating approximately $46 million in non-cash unrealized gains for the company. As of August 11, 2026, the company held a cumulative total of 323,400 ZEC, with an average cost basis of approximately $341.83, representing about 1.92% of ZEC's total circulating supply. On the business development front, the company has appointed Dev Ojha, founder of Valar Group, as an advisor. Valar Group focuses on Zcash network development and research, and has led the development of the high-performance full node software Zakura and the Ironwood shielded pool. The company's subsidiary, Leap Therapeutics, has reached an agreement with the U.S. FDA on the Phase III clinical trial design for sirexatamab (anti-DKK1 monoclonal antibody), and received FDA Fast Track designation in May 2026 for the treatment of patients with second-line metastatic colorectal cancer with high DKK1 expression. The company has also initiated a strategic process to evaluate pathways for advancing sirexatamab development through independent financing or collaboration with partners.
Odaily News: Crypto-friendly bank Erebor Bank is in talks to raise $1.5 billion at a target valuation of $9.5 billion. The funds will be used to meet the 12% mandatory leverage ratio requirement and support loan business expansion, including a $200 million credit facility to Valar Atomics. Erebor Bank's total deposits grew from $1.1 billion in March to $4.6 billion in July, with customer growth primarily coming from the crypto, AI, and defense sectors. (CoinDesk)
Valar Group 与 Project Tachyon 宣布，计划于 2026 年 8 月 25 日 发起为期约 18 天 的 Zcash NU7 持币人投票，以确定 NU7 升级范围。此次投票将在专用投票链上进行，采用经审计的隐私投票技术，符合条件的投票者需在 8 月 24 日 19:00 UTC 快照时持有可支配的 Ironwood 屏蔽资金。
According to CoinDesk, Zcash has released the full node software Zakura 1.0.0, a new client refactored based on Zebra that supports pruning, snapshot synchronization, and compatibility mode with the legacy zcashd, capable of reducing new node startup time to within two minutes. The project is maintained by Zcash zero-knowledge cryptography founding member Sean Bowe and Valar Group head Dev Ojha, aiming to lay the foundation for Zcash's subsequent scaling to throughput capabilities approaching those of Visa and Mastercard.
Zcash core developer Sean Bowe posted an update on the progress of the Ironwood upgrade, stating that over the past 48 hours, protocol developers from various organizations have held two meetings and reached consensus on multiple specifications and implementation details for Ironwood. These include disabling Orchard pool bundles in Coinbase transactions, using anchors as authentication data for hardware wallet migrations, and the processing order of ZIPs and specifications.Currently, the Ironwood circuit and the ZIP 2005 integration draft are under review. Valar Group has completed testnet deployment and implemented some wallet-side changes. Meanwhile, formal verification work is progressing, and the development team plans to meet tomorrow to finalize the verification strategy. Additionally, at least three major audit firms are conducting security audits on Orchard, and multiple AI audit tools have been put into use simultaneously. Sean Bowe stated that the overall development progress is running smoothly.
Zcash ecosystem core contributor ZODL announced a new network upgrade proposal and privacy pool, Ironwood, in collaboration with Tachyon, Valar Group, the Zcash Foundation, and Shielded Labs. Ironwood will be built upon the existing Orchard protocol and further enhance security through formal verification and additional independent audits.