Zcash (ZEC) saw a drastic 30% drop in value, falling to $400, after Shielded Labs revealed a serious vulnerability in its Orchard privacy pool. This bug, which had been undetected for four years, could have allowed attackers to create unlimited counterfeit tokens without detection. The flaw was discovered on May 29, 2026, by security engineer Taylor Hornby, who utilized Anthropic’s Opus 4.8 AI model to identify the issue. An emergency fix was implemented by June 1, but Shielded Labs admitted that it cannot definitively determine if the bug was exploited before the patch was applied. The organization is now proposing a network upgrade that includes new accounting measures to restore confidence in ZEC's supply. Additionally, Shielded Labs is ramping up its security efforts, including hiring a Head of Security and a Cryptographer, and plans to publish a detailed post on the proposed upgrade soon. The situation has raised concerns in the market, reflecting the challenges of maintaining trust in privacy-focused cryptocurrencies.