WuBlockchain
Zcash block production stalled for more than four hours on June 3, 2026, with the latest block height recorded at 3,364,601 and a timestamp of 05:27:48 UTC — roughly four hours before explorer pages refreshed. Several preceding blocks clustered around the same five-hour gap, a clear sign the chain had stopped advancing.
Why it matters
Helius CEO Mert clarified on X that the Zcash network itself was not down. The halt was a deliberate developer-and-miner action: the Orchard shielded pool, which holds roughly 30% of ZEC supply, was frozen to prevent a known bug from being exploited before a fix shipped. A hard fork followed to apply the patch and resume production.
Market impact
The episode was a controlled pause, not a network failure, but downstream infrastructure lagged. Cake Wallet and Zodl Wallet reportedly fell out of sync alongside several block explorers, briefly misreporting chain state. ZEC traders watching those explorers saw a chain that looked dead for hours even as the underlying network was already mid-recovery — a reminder that forking events routinely fracture wallet and explorer visibility before consensus catches up.
Frequently asked questions
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Did the Zcash network go down on June 3, 2026?
No. Helius CEO Mert said on X the network itself was not down. The pause was a deliberate freeze of the Orchard shielded pool to prevent a known bug from being exploited before a hard-fork fix shipped.
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Why was Zcash block production halted for 4+ hours?
Miners and developers intentionally froze the Orchard shielded pool — roughly 30% of ZEC supply — to stop a bug from being exploited, then executed a hard fork to apply the patch and resume block production.
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What is the Orchard shielded pool?
Orchard is Zcash's latest shielded pool protocol. It holds roughly 30% of ZEC supply and was the layer frozen during the June 3 pause to prevent exploitation of a known bug.
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Did wallets and explorers go down too?
Yes. Cake Wallet and Zodl Wallet reportedly fell out of sync alongside several block explorers, briefly misreporting chain state as dead while the underlying network was already mid-recovery from the hard fork.
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What was the last block produced before Zcash halted?
The latest block recorded on the Zcash Block Explorer was height 3,364,601 with a timestamp of 05:27:48 UTC on June 3, 2026 — roughly four hours before explorer pages refreshed.
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