Cryptography

Zcash developers have released Udon into Zakura Common, moving part of Project Tachyon’s proposed scaling upgrade into shared private-payment software. The work supports a long-term target of more than 50,000 private payments per second, though the upgrade still needs further development and security review before any activation.

European financial authorities say advanced quantum computers could eventually undermine cryptography used to secure blockchains, raising fresh concerns for Bitcoin holders using older or reused addresses. About 6.9 million Bitcoin, valued at roughly $586 billion, could be at risk if exposed public keys become vulnerable to future private key attacks.

StarkWare says a week of AI-assisted coding reduced the estimated GPU cost of preparing a quantum-resistant Bitcoin transaction from about $320 to $66. The figure remains an estimate, and the improved method has not yet been demonstrated in another mined Bitcoin transaction.

Autonomous AI agents are intensifying the internet’s trust crisis as synthetic media, opaque decision-making and machine-speed transactions outpace traditional oversight. Zero-knowledge proofs are gaining attention as a cryptographic way to verify identity, provenance and authorization without exposing private data.