The Zcash ecosystem is divided over the proposed Crosslink upgrade, which would introduce a hybrid proof-of-work and proof-of-stake consensus system to the network.
Josh Swihart, founder of Zcash Open Development Lab (ZODL) and former CEO of the Electric Coin Company, announced his opposition to the proposal in a public statement. Swihart noted that ZODL originally started the Crosslink project in 2021 but shelved it, describing it as a distraction. Shielded Labs, another ecosystem developer, revived the proposal in 2024.
Swihart argued that the speed improvements do not justify the risks involved. Adding a staking layer would increase protocol complexity and introduce new security assumptions, he said, and the finality gains would not warrant these trade-offs. He stated the proposal is not good for Zcash and lacks the broad support necessary to change the current proof-of-work-based consensus.
Mert Mumtaz, CEO of Helius and a privacy advocate, similarly opposed the proposal, calling it an awful idea.
Path Forward for the Proposal
The Crosslink proposal would aim to prevent 51% network attacks associated with proof-of-work and achieve faster finality through proof-of-stake mechanisms. However, the proposal remains at the prototype and community feedback stage.
For adoption, Crosslink would need to be incorporated into a Zcash Improvement Proposal (ZIP) and pass a governance vote before a consensus upgrade could take effect. Swihart indicated that community signaling on the proposal has been negative.
When asked whether Zcash could experience a hard fork over the disagreement, Swihart downplayed the scenario, stating there is not enough interest to make such a split viable and that momentum remains behind pure proof-of-work.
Upcoming Network Upgrade
The Zcash Foundation confirmed that Network Upgrade 7 (NU7) will go live on mainnet on November 5. The upgrade aims to increase block speed by 3x, reducing ideal block times from 75 seconds to 25 seconds, though practical finality time will be approximately 75-100 seconds.
Crosslink proponents view the upgrade as an intermediate step, hoping the proposal will be considered afterward to improve the chain's competitiveness and finality times compared to faster networks.
