Zcash (@Zcash) $ZEC Open Development Lab founder Josh Swihart (@jswihart) has criticized Shielded Labs' Crosslink proposal, adding to a debate over how the privacy-focused network should hand
Zcash (@Zcash) $ZEC Open Development Lab founder Josh Swihart (@jswihart) has criticized Shielded Labs' Crosslink proposal, adding to a debate over how the privacy-focused network should handle transaction finality.
The plan would add staking alongside mining to help prevent transaction rollbacks. It also seeks to preserve privacy through fixed staking amounts within the shielded Orchard pool.
Swihart argues the added complexity and security risks outweigh the benefits. "Adding a staking layer adds protocol complexity and new security assumptions," he said. "The finality gain doesn't warrant the risk. Zcash should stay on Nakamoto consensus."
According to Messari, Crosslink is a proposed consensus upgrade developed by Shielded Labs that layers a proof-of-stake finality layer on top of the existing proof-of-work chain. Messari says the aim is to keep miner-driven block production while adding faster economic finality and staking yield, without compromising privacy.
On privacy, Messari reports that staking would occur entirely within the Orchard shielded pool using quantized amounts, in buckets of 1, 10 or 100 ZEC. This keeps the total network stake transparent while making it harder to track individual balances or delegators.
Shielded Labs describes the project as a proposed upgrade that aims to strengthen Zcash's 21 million supply cap through the combined security of proof of work and proof of stake, and to let users earn rewards for holding ZEC, according to its own project page.
Swihart has also said the proposal is "not good for Zcash" and lacks broad support for changing the current mining-based consensus, AMBCrypto reported. The outlet said the proposal is currently at the prototype and community feedback stage.
The dispute is not new. TokenPost reported that Swihart said on Nov. 23, 2025 that Crosslink and Zcash Shielded Assets were not right for Zcash. The same report said Crosslink's productionization phase is scheduled through Q2 2027, that mainnet inclusion would require Zcash governance approval and strong community consensus, and that Crosslink is not part of the planned features for Network Upgrade 7 (NU7).
For now, Crosslink remains a proposal. It has not been activated on the Zcash mainnet, and Shielded Labs is advancing it through testnets and development milestones, according to FinanceFeeds. Any change to the consensus mechanism would need to clear Zcash's governance process and win support from the wider community.
AMBCrypto: ZODL founder pushes back against Crosslink upgradeTokenPost: Zcash Crosslink productionization in progress after Swihart criticismMessari: Understanding Zcash, a comprehensive overview
