Zcash Engineering Office Hours: Quantum Recoverability

​At the next Zcash Office Hours, we’ll unpack ZIP 2005: Quantum Recoverability, a draft consensus proposal that makes a targeted change to how Orchard notes are constructed starting with v6 transactions. The aim is to create a safer “exit ramp” if large-scale discrete-log / quantum attacks ever become practical.

ZIP 2005 does not make Orchard post-quantum on its own, but instead makes it possible to recover existing Orchard funds into a future, quantum-resilient recovery protocol if the current shielded protocol must be disabled.

​Daira-Emma Hopwood (ZIP owner) will co-host, and we’ll walk through the threat model, the high-level recovery concept, and what this would mean operationally for users and wallets, including why Sapling funds should migrate to Orchard to benefit from recoverability.

Bring questions about trade-offs, wallet impact, and compatibility constraints (e.g., multisig/FROST and hardware wallets).