what's Shielded Labs?
Shielded Labs is a non-profit organization based in Switzerland dedicated to the development and improvement of Zcash, a privacy-focused cryptocurrency. Their mission is to enhance Zcash's privacy and security features, making it the leading option for private digital money. Funded through donations from Zcash holders and supporters, the organization operates independently to align with community interests. A key initiative is Crosslink, a hybrid Proof-of-Work (PoW) and Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus algorithm designed to upgrade Zcash's network. Crosslink aims to combine the security of PoW with the energy efficiency and decentralization benefits of PoS, targeting completion of a full implementation within 12 months followed by production deployment. Zooko Wilcox, Zcash's founder, joined as Head of Product to accelerate this upgrade. The organization conducts regular workshops and prototype releases for Crosslink, fostering community involvement. They emphasize cryptographic innovations to maintain Zcash's shielded transactions, ensuring user privacy through zero-knowledge proofs.
Winklevoss brothers back Shielded Labs for Zcash work; 3k anonymous donations received.
Links
x.com/shieldedlabsDeveloping the Network Sustainability Mechanism, which allows ZEC to be burned and reintroduced as future rewards following an exponential decay to address long-term miner incentives.
Received support from Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss for work and contributions to Zcash.
Received over 3,000 units in donations through an anonymously created fundraising mechanism.
Crosslink protocol progresses to external expert review phase with first independent scrutiny by @nikete of pre-registered design.
Shielded Labs debuted as new core contributor in January-March 2025 with focus on scalability and integrations alongside governance reforms eliminating automatic ECC/ZF allocations. Multiple integrations launched including Zashi wallet with Tor and NEAR cross-chain swaps, wrapped ZEC on Solana, partnerships with Flexa, Maya Protocol, Hyperliquid, and Keystone Wallet, plus Project Tachyon mobile-ready transactions in August, driving shielded transaction volumes up 9x with 30% of supply now shielded.
Vitalik Buterin donated to support Crosslink, a Zcash network upgrade implementing Malachite technology for hybrid-Proof-of-Stake, improving finality, safety, and reducing reorg risks.