Woofun AI reports that Zcash has deployed Zakura, an independent full node maintained outside the Zcash Foundation. This fast-sync branch, derived from Zebra, offers compatibility with the legacy zcashd client before its July 18 lifecycle end. The release aligns with Project Tachyon and private information retrieval research to boost throughput to Visa-level speeds by minimizing verification data.

Zakura also facilitates the Ironwood (NU6.3) upgrade, scheduled for activation on July 28. This update implements a turnstile mechanism to restrict withdrawals from the Orchard shielded pool and mitigate risks associated with potential long-term soundness bugs that could generate counterfeit ZEC.