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5 Jun 2026, 09:05

Arthur Hayes Dumps Entire ZEC Position, Sends Zcash Crashing Over 43%

Arthur Hayes is out of Zcash. The BitMEX co-founder announced he has sold his entire ZEC position following the disclosure of a critical vulnerability in Zcash’s Orchard pool, and the market did not wait for an explanation before reacting. ZEC collapsed 43.4% in 24 hours, touching a low of $255 before recovering slightly to trade around $319. Over $81 million in liquidations followed. This is not a normal dip. Something broke, and the fallout is still unfolding. The Orchard Pool Exploit That Started Everything Zcash founder Zooko Wilcox confirmed on X, that security researcher Taylor Hornby discovered a critical counterfeiting vulnerability in Zcash’s Orchard pool on May 29. The Zcash Open Development Lab coordinated an emergency response that was completed by June 2. The timeline matters, the bug existed for several days before the fix landed, and that window is exactly what is making investors nervous. https://t.co/v7BiOdzU9E — zooko ⓩ (@zooko) June 4, 2026 Shielded Labs, one of the organizations involved in the response, was direct about what the vulnerability meant in practice. The bug was real and exploitable. A local test exploit could generate unlimited, undetectable counterfeit ZEC. Read that again: unlimited, undetectable. In a privacy-focused blockchain where the entire value proposition rests on cryptographic certainty, those two words together are about as damaging as it gets. The deeper problem is what Shielded Labs admitted it cannot do. Due to Orchard’s privacy design, it is cryptographically impossible to prove whether the bug was exploited before the patch was deployed. The organization believes prior exploitation was unlikely, but belief is not proof. That distinction, between improbability and impossibility, is precisely what sent Hayes for the exit. Why Arthur Hayes Sold and What He Said About It Hayes posted his reasoning on X, without softening it. He described reading about the exploit and not immediately appreciating how fundamentally it violated his investment thesis. The 30% price dump that followed made him reconsider, and he took profit on the entire position. The Holy Trinity is dead. Sadly due to the Orchard Pool exploit, I had to dump our entire $ZEC bag. – While I think it's extremely unlikely of any minting, it cannot be formally cryptographically proved impossible – The privacy from AI, govt, big tech narrative demands perfection… — Arthur Hayes (@CryptoHayes) June 5, 2026 His explanation zeroed in on the philosophical problem at the heart of the Orchard situation. While he considers it extremely unlikely that any counterfeit minting occurred, he acknowledged it cannot be formally cryptographically proved impossible. That gap, between unlikely and provably impossible, is where his thesis fell apart. The reason that gap matters so much comes down to the narrative Hayes had built around ZEC in the first place. Privacy from AI surveillance, government overreach, and big tech data collection is one of the strongest emerging themes in the current market cycle. But that narrative, Hayes argued, demands perfection, not improbability. A privacy coin that cannot fully guarantee the integrity of its own supply is not a perfect privacy coin. It is a privacy coin with an asterisk. For a thesis built on absolute trust in cryptographic assurance, an asterisk is a dealbreaker. He was measured about it. He acknowledged eating humble pie, said he has no issue with that, and left the door open explicitly, if his assumptions are proven incorrect, he will rebuy, potentially at higher prices. But the position is gone. He also confirmed that his fund continues to hold Worldcoin’s WLD token, adding a characteristically sardonic note that he remains excited for “Lord Elon to pump our bags.” $81 Million in Liquidations and a Market in Freefall The numbers that followed the exploit disclosure are staggering by any measure. According to CoinGlass data, ZEC liquidations totalled $81.91 million in the past 24 hours alone. Of that, approximately $70.55 million came from long liquidations, traders who had bet on ZEC continuing higher and got wiped out as the price collapsed. Short liquidations accounted for the remaining $11.36 million. CoinMarketCap data confirms ZEC is trading around $319, down 43.4% over the 24-hour period following the news. The intraday low of $255 represents a level the token had not seen in a significant period, and the speed of the move reflects how violently the market repriced the asset once the full scope of the vulnerability became clear. Liquidations of this scale do not happen without leverage. ZEC had attracted a meaningful long positioning base, likely built in part around the same privacy narrative that Hayes himself was running. When the narrative cracked, the leverage unwound. The cascade from there was mechanical, long positions got liquidated, selling pressure intensified, prices fell further, more longs got liquidated. The loop ran until the tape was exhausted. What the Orchard Bug Means for Zcash’s Credibility Shielded Labs is already exploring a network upgrade that would verify the integrity of Zcash’s total supply and attempt to prove the non-existence of counterfeit ZEC in the Orchard pool. That work is technically complex and will take time. In the interim, the inability to confirm what did or did not happen during the vulnerability window hangs over the project. For a blockchain that exists specifically to provide financial privacy, a system people trust precisely because they believe its cryptographic guarantees are ironclad, this is the worst kind of disclosure. It is not that the system was definitely compromised. It is that the system cannot prove it was not. Those are very different statements, but in the context of privacy technology, the second one is almost as damaging as the first. The Zcash community has consistently positioned the Orchard pool as an advancement over earlier shielded pool designs. It introduced new cryptographic proofs and improved privacy guarantees. The discovery that a bug within that system could have allowed undetectable infinite minting, and that the privacy protections themselves are what make verification impossible, represents a profound irony that the project now has to confront publicly. Disclosure: This is not trading or investment advice. Always do your research before buying any cryptocurrency or investing in any services. Follow us on Twitter @nulltxnews to stay updated with the latest Crypto, NFT, AI, Cybersecurity, Distributed Computing, and Metaverse news !

5 Jun 2026, 09:00

Zcash Bug Could Have Minted Unlimited ZEC Undetected

A critical vulnerability in Zcash’s Orchard shielded pool could have allowed an attacker to create an unlimited amount of counterfeit ZEC without detection, according to a new disclosure from Zooko Wilcox, Jason McGee and security researcher Taylor Hornby. The flaw was discovered on May 29, remediated through an emergency ecosystem response completed by June 2, and has now triggered a broader debate over how Zcash can prove supply integrity in a privacy-preserving system. Orchard Flaw Puts Zcash Supply Integrity Under Scrutiny The vulnerability was found by Hornby , an experienced security engineer hired by Shielded Labs in April 2026 to conduct ongoing security research on the Zcash protocol. According to the disclosure, the mandate was straightforward: find protocol-level weaknesses before adversaries did. Hornby began reviewing Zcash with a combination of traditional security research and newer AI-assisted auditing methods. The timing was unusually compressed. Shortly after Anthropic released its Opus 4.8 model on May 28, Hornby used it in a targeted review of the Orchard circuit. One day later, he found a critical counterfeiting flaw and disclosed it to Zcash Open Development Lab, or ZODL , whose engineers coordinated the emergency response with other ecosystem participants. “The vulnerability could have been exploited to undetectably create an unlimited amount of counterfeit ZEC within Orchard,” the Shielded Labs post said . “Because of the privacy properties of Orchard, there is no way to cryptographically prove whether the vulnerability was exploited before it was remediated. However, a network upgrade can be deployed to protect users and prove the integrity of the Zcash supply.” The disclosure states that the bug was “real and exploitable.” Hornby, with the help of Opus 4.8, wrote a complete exploit and tested it in a local regtest environment, where it generated unlimited counterfeit ZEC that could not be detected. The authors said that had the same tool been run on mainnet, it would have generated unlimited, undetectable counterfeit ZEC in Hornby’s mainnet wallet. Technically, the issue involved an under-constrained element of the Orchard circuit. That made it possible to feed arbitrary false inputs into an elliptic curve multiplication while still passing the multiplication check. The vulnerability existed from Orchard’s activation in May 2022 until the emergency fix was deployed on June 1, 2026. That timeline is central to the concern. In a transparent ledger, supply irregularities can generally be audited by inspecting public balances and transaction values. Orchard is different by design: it hides amounts and transaction history. That privacy model means the system depends heavily on the correctness of the circuit rules that define valid shielded transactions. Josh Swihart, founder and CEO of Zcash Open Development Lab, the team behind the creation and launch of Zcash and builder of the Zodl wallet, framed the issue in those terms in a separate post. “A shielded Zcash transaction includes a proof that it followed the protocol’s rules, as defined in the rulebook (the circuit) that defines what constitutes a valid transaction. The Orchard vulnerability was in one of the rules, written loosely enough that it would accept false information and still pass. As a result, the engine could be convinced that a fake transaction was valid.” Swihart added that the flaw was not in Zcash’s underlying cryptography or the proof engine itself, but in the handwritten rules. In his words, “This was a flaw in the handwritten rules, not in the underlying cryptography or the engine that creates proofs.” Shielded Labs said prior exploitation appears unlikely, while emphasizing that users should not be asked to rely on that assessment alone. The authors pointed to several reasons for their view: the flaw had evaded years of scrutiny by leading cryptographers, Hornby was specifically hired to find such vulnerabilities, and the response window after discovery was sharply narrowed by the speed of ZODL and the broader Zcash ecosystem. “The discovery was not accidental—it was the result of a deliberate effort to identify vulnerabilities of this kind before malicious actors could,” the post said. “Taylor is one of the most skilled people in the world at this. He used the most recent AI tools, available only to white-hat security researchers, along with a sophisticated custom-built AI harness and prompts, and worked hard to outrace the attackers. We think he probably succeeded.” Still, the authors acknowledged the unresolved cryptographic uncertainty. Because of Orchard’s privacy properties and the nature of the bug, they said there is no definitive way to prove solely through cryptography whether the vulnerability was exploited before the fix. Shielded Labs Eyes New Pool And Formal Verification To address that, Shielded Labs is exploring a proposed network upgrade with other Zcash developers. The plan would deploy a new shielded pool and enforce turnstile accounting on coins moving from the existing Orchard pool, with the goal of allowing anyone to verify the integrity of the Zcash supply and prove the non-existence of counterfeit ZEC in Orchard. A follow-up post is expected next week with more details, including tradeoffs and implementation mechanics. Any major upgrade would still need community support and the standard governance process before activation. Swihart said a second Orchard pool could, in principle, be targeted for NU7 at the end of July, though he did not take a fixed position on whether that path should be pursued. He argued that the larger issue is preventing this class of failure from recurring, with formal verification as the strongest answer. “Formal verification fixes this,” Swihart wrote. “A mathematical proof can be constructed to reduce the parts humans must review to a concise, readable statement of the rules. A computer then checks the entire rulebook to ensure it matches. AI tools can now do the work of writing these proofs.” Shielded Labs said it is already accelerating proactive security work with Hornby and Anthropic, initiating a project to formally verify the Orchard circuit, and opening searches for a Head of Security and a Cryptographer. The episode leaves Zcash with a difficult but clear path: repair the trust assumptions around Orchard, prove supply integrity where possible, and move future shielded design closer to machine-checked guarantees rather than human-reviewed complexity. Over the past 24 hours, ZEC has fallen nearly 45% amid the uncertainty. At press time, it was trading at $337.

5 Jun 2026, 08:55

US Dollar Index Slips Toward 99.30 as Traders Eye Nonfarm Payrolls Data

BitcoinWorld US Dollar Index Slips Toward 99.30 as Traders Eye Nonfarm Payrolls Data The US Dollar Index (DXY), which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, traded lower around the 99.30 mark during early European hours on Thursday. The move comes as market participants shift their focus to the upcoming US Nonfarm Payrolls (NFP) report, a key labor market indicator that could influence the Federal Reserve’s next policy steps. Dollar Weakness Ahead of Key Jobs Data The dollar’s recent decline reflects growing expectations that the Fed may ease its monetary stance later this year. Weaker-than-expected economic data, including a softening manufacturing sector and mixed consumer confidence readings, have fueled speculation that the central bank could cut interest rates sooner rather than later. The DXY has now fallen for three consecutive sessions, breaking below the psychologically significant 100.00 level earlier this week. From a technical perspective, the index is testing critical support near 99.20, a level that has held multiple times since late 2023. A decisive break below this zone could open the door for further losses toward the 98.50 area, while resistance sits at 100.00 and 100.50. Nonfarm Payrolls: What to Watch The US Bureau of Labor Statistics is scheduled to release the NFP report on Friday. Economists polled by major financial media expect the economy to have added around 190,000 jobs in the latest month, with the unemployment rate holding steady at 3.8%. Average hourly earnings are forecast to rise 0.3% month-over-month. A strong jobs number could temporarily boost the dollar by reinforcing the view that the Fed can maintain higher rates for longer. Conversely, a weak print would likely accelerate the dollar’s decline, as it would strengthen the case for rate cuts. Market pricing currently implies a roughly 60% probability of a rate cut by September, according to CME FedWatch data. Implications for Forex Traders For currency traders, the DXY’s direction this week sets the tone for major pairs. EUR/USD has climbed back above 1.0800, benefiting from the dollar’s weakness, while USD/JPY has slipped below 155.00. A soft NFP report could push the euro toward the 1.0900 resistance zone and drag the dollar-yen pair toward 153.00 support. Commodity currencies, including the Australian and New Zealand dollars, have also gained ground, reflecting improved risk appetite as the dollar weakens. The Canadian dollar, however, remains under pressure due to domestic economic headwinds and uncertainty around US trade policy. Conclusion The US Dollar Index’s slide toward 99.30 highlights the market’s cautious positioning ahead of the Nonfarm Payrolls report. While technical levels suggest potential for further downside, the NFP data will ultimately determine the near-term trajectory. Traders should prepare for increased volatility Friday, as the report could shift expectations for Fed policy and drive significant moves across currency markets. FAQs Q1: What is the US Dollar Index (DXY)? The US Dollar Index (DXY) measures the value of the US dollar relative to a basket of six major foreign currencies: the euro, Japanese yen, British pound, Canadian dollar, Swedish krona, and Swiss franc. It is widely used as a benchmark for the dollar’s overall strength. Q2: Why does the NFP report affect the dollar? The Nonfarm Payrolls report provides key data on US employment, which is a critical indicator of economic health. Strong job growth suggests a robust economy, which may lead the Federal Reserve to keep interest rates higher, supporting the dollar. Weak job growth raises expectations of rate cuts, which typically weakens the dollar. Q3: What happens if the DXY breaks below 99.00? A sustained break below 99.00 would signal further weakness for the dollar. The next major support level is around 98.50, followed by 97.70. Such a move would likely boost currencies like the euro and yen, and could increase demand for safe-haven assets like gold. This post US Dollar Index Slips Toward 99.30 as Traders Eye Nonfarm Payrolls Data first appeared on BitcoinWorld .

5 Jun 2026, 08:53

Will Bitcoin drop below $60K as market selling pressure intensifies?

Bitcoin slipped below $62,000 on Friday, briefly approaching the $61,000 level as weakening demand and rising selling pressure from short-term holders weighed on sentiment. The move comes amid a broader risk-off environment across global markets. The momentum indicators remain bearish, suggesting further selloff in the near term. Bitcoin demand continues to decline Bitcoin is down by more than 1% in the last 24 hours and is now trading above $62,000. The coin briefly touched the $61,100 level during the early hours of Friday but has now slightly recovered to above $62,000. The bearish performance comes amid a demand decline for Bitcoin. New on-chain data from CryptoQuant highlights a significant contraction in market activity, suggesting that overall demand for Bitcoin has deteriorated to its weakest point in the current cycle. The data revealed that spot demand has fallen to -272,000 BTC on a 30-day cumulative basis, while futures demand has dropped to -229,000 BTC. Thanks to this latest development, total demand contraction now sits near 501,000 BTC. The demand contraction indicates that selling pressure has consistently outweighed buying activity throughout most of the year, even during brief periods of institutional inflows. According to analysts, this decline is due to the negative macroeconomic conditions, including elevated bond yields, persistent inflation, and geopolitical uncertainty. In this environment, liquidity has reportedly shifted toward equities—especially tech and AI stocks—as well as forex and precious metals. On-chain behavior shows that short-term holders (STHs) have undergone one of the largest capitulation events of the year. The report highlighted that around 53,800 BTC were sent to exchanges at a loss, while inflows from profitable positions dropped to near zero. This pattern reflects growing panic among recent buyers as unrealized losses deepen. Historically, similar capitulation events have often appeared near local market bottoms, though analysts caution they are not reliable reversal signals on their own. Continued selling, however, could extend the correction if demand fails to recover. Despite that, the oversold conditions could indicate that the bottom is approaching. Market sentiment weakened further after Strategy disclosed its first Bitcoin sale in over four years, selling 32 BTC to fund preferred stock dividend payments. The company’s Bitcoin holdings are now facing an estimated $10.8 billion unrealized loss, according to market commentary. https://twitter.com/Kalshi/status/2062517164838363342 Bitcoin technical outlook: Bearish structure remains intact The BTC/USD 4-hour chart is extremely bearish as Bitcoin is trading below the 20, 50, and 100-day exponential moving averages. These averages form a resistance layer between approximately $72,900 and $75,800. Momentum indicators show deeply oversold conditions. RSI near 27, signaling extreme downside momentum, while the MACD lines are also in oversold territory While these readings suggest selling may be stretched, price action remains capped beneath major resistance. If the bulls regain control, initial resistance emerges around $65,103. An extended rally would allow BTC to rally towards the major resistance zones between $72,874–$75,796. However, Bitcoin has lost the $62,520 support level, and if the selloff continues, it could drop towards the $59,058 secondary support. A daily candle close below this support would expose the $55,770 deeper downside level. A sustained move back above the EMA cluster would be required to shift sentiment away from the current bearish bias. The post Will Bitcoin drop below $60K as market selling pressure intensifies? appeared first on Invezz

5 Jun 2026, 08:31

Here’s why the Bitway token just exploded 233%

Bitway (BTW) has emerged as one of the strongest-performing cryptocurrencies today after its price surged more than 233% in 24 hours, pushing the token to a new all-time high and drawing significant attention from traders. The rally saw BTW climb from a 24-hour low of $0.01196 to as high as $0.04572 before pulling back slightly. At press time, the token was trading around $0.0399, still holding onto most of its gains despite the slight pullback. The sharp price increase was accompanied by a major jump in trading activity. Daily trading volume reached nearly $44.9 million, an unusually high figure for the project and a sign that the move was supported by strong market participation rather than isolated buying activity. Now the question is why did the Bitway token price surge that much? Gate launched perpetual futures trading for Bitway (BTW) One of the biggest developments for Bitway came on June 4, when cryptocurrency exchange Gate launched perpetual futures trading for BTW. The exchange introduced the BTWUSDT perpetual contract , allowing traders to take both long and short positions with leverage ranging from 1x to 20x. Trading officially began at 13:00 UTC on June 4. The listing marked an important step for the BTW token by expanding the ways traders could gain exposure to it. Before the futures listing, participation was largely limited to spot trading, and the addition of leveraged derivatives created a new source of demand and significantly increased the token's visibility among active traders. Normally, perpetual futures products often attract larger trading volumes because they enable speculation on both upward and downward price movements. They also allow traders to use leverage, increasing the amount of capital that can enter a market over a short period. In Bitway's case, the market reacted almost immediately. Bitway token price prediction Following a move of this magnitude, attention has shifted toward whether BTW can maintain its gains. Market analysis highlights the area around $0.03 as an important support zone. The token's ability to remain above that level while maintaining elevated trading volume could determine whether the rally develops into a period of consolidation or continues higher. The main risk facing the market is a sharp decline in trading activity. If volume begins to fade significantly, some traders could decide to lock in profits after the recent rally. At the same time, the market is overstretched following the sudden price surge. In that scenario, the $0.025 to $0.028 range is the potential area where the price could stabilise during a correction. For now, however, the focus remains on the impact of the Gate futures launch and the unusually strong volume that accompanied it. Together, those factors helped transform Bitway from a relatively quiet token into one of the cryptocurrency market's biggest gainers over the past 24 hours. The post Here’s why the Bitway token just exploded 233% appeared first on Invezz

5 Jun 2026, 08:30

Forward Industries moves 455,784 SOL to exchange amid 19.3% drop! What does this signal for investors?

🚨 Forward Industries moved 455,784 $SOL to Coinbase Prime after a month of silence. 📉 The company is now facing $1.3 billion in unrealized losses as SOL slid nearly 20 percent since June began. 🔎 Solana’s network activity is still red hot despite the sharp price drop. Continue Reading: Forward Industries moves 455,784 SOL to exchange amid 19.3% drop! What does this signal for investors? The post Forward Industries moves 455,784 SOL to exchange amid 19.3% drop! What does this signal for investors? appeared first on COINTURK NEWS .