Zooko Wilcox, lead developer and co-founder of Zcash (ZEC), has disclosed a new emergency protocol designed to protect the coin’s cryptographic integrity as the network prepares for a major upgrade. The Ironwood hard fork, also known as Network Upgrade 6.3 (NU6.3), is scheduled to activate on July 28, 2026, at block 3,428,143. This upgrade will permanently segregate the vulnerable Orchard pool and immobilize any potentially counterfeit ZEC that may have been secretly introduced.