Irrational Thinking. ZODL Update

Ecosystem Updates
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wrexham
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“I haven’t done great with rational thinking, to be honest. Irrational thinking has served us well.” Rob McElhenney, Welcome to Wrexham.

Rob’s words came back to me this week as I watched Elon’s SpaceX IPO speech, where he told the room that SpaceX was likely to fail, but they should try, because if they don’t, we won’t reach the stars.

For those unfamiliar with the documentary series Welcome to Wrexham, it chronicles the Welsh team and town after its acquisition by Rob and Ryan Reynolds five years ago.

When they purchased the team, Wrexham was in the National League, which sits below the English Football League (EFL) and the Premier League (EPL). They were a long-established but dying team and small community, with little hope of moving upwards toward glory.

“Doing a Wrexham” was community code for disappointment.

Things changed in 2021. They began to win. They began to understand how to win. And in 2023, they were promoted to EFL League Two. And then, against the odds in 2024, they were promoted again to EFL League One.

No team in the history of English football had ever been promoted back-to-back-to-back. But in 2025, Wrexham became the first. The team, the players, and the community have been transformed.

In the conclusion of last season, Rob reflected on his ambition from the outset: “A few years ago, we were not in the English football league. They asked us what was our goal. And I said “The Premier League,” and people laughed…no one’s laughing anymore.”

“Doing a Wrexham” has been redefined. It’s now code for achieving the impossible.

Whether building rockets that can land themselves and eventually shuttle us through the solar system, or winning football games at the highest levels, we can build the exciting future we seek. We simply can.

It will not come without setbacks. We’ve had our share of missteps and setbacks. Everyone doing something great has them.

Screenshot 2026-06-14 at 3.50.05 PM

In 2023, we lamented that the entire Zcash community numbered about 30 people, and they were largely unhappy. Funds and morale were low. The teams and supporters had to dig deep, clinging to the mission and believing that the world would someday catch up.

Today, everything has changed. Momentum has changed. The community has never been more vibrant, and the world is beginning to catch up. It’s because we had to dig so deep, experience the bottom, and work our way back up. That provided the foundations that give us a real shot at ultimately bringing financial freedom to the world.

The future belongs to those who think irrationally, act with conviction, bring people together who choose to do the same, and try. We are redefining Zcash. The future is ours.

Here’s what we accomplished this week.

Zodl (Mobile and Product)

  • Zodl 3.5.2 and 3.5.3 released: Coinholder Polling UI polish, iOS Swap and Pay error fix, and removal of the decommissioned Stardust servers on both iOS and Android.
  • Zodl 3.6: Automatic and Manual server selection has landed on both iOS and Android.
  • Zodl 3.6: cross-platform new-wallet first-launch UX fix (skips unnecessary block scanning) reviewed and tested.
  • Zodl 3.6: multi-currency conversion support implemented.

Looking ahead at Mobile and Product:

  • Orchard to Ironwood migration: specification and implementation work begins.
  • Security hardening: first wave of fixes already done or in QA.
  • Zodl 3.7: review and testing of multi-server transaction broadcast.

Analytics

Zodl iOS:

  • Unique Installs: 44.1k (+0.5k)
  • Total Downloads: 52.7k (+0.6k)
  • App Store Rating: 4.9★ (no change)

Zodl Android:

  • Install Base: 16.3k (+0.3k)
  • Total Installs (incl. Open Beta): 52.6k (+0.6k)
  • Play Store Rating: 4.25★ (no change)

Zcash Core (includes R&D)

  • librustzcash, Zallet, and dependencies updated to NU6.2.
  • Zallet alpha.4: two of three gating sync-engine items closed: shared logic refactor across put_blocks and store_decrypted_tx, and groundwork for full-block scanning in zcash_client_backend.
  • getwalletstatus RPC added; wallet syncing migrated to use it.
  • zcashd-wallet migration: seven bugs uncovered by the new integration-test harness cleared: importprivkey keys, transparent watch-only addresses, imported P2PKH and P2SH addresses, and standalone Sapling view-keys now migrate correctly; transparent ingestion now records tx_index; z_shieldcoinbase RPC implemented.
  • Integration-test scaffolding: regtest wallet builder and multi-NU test wallet landed.
  • Zallet upgraded for compatibility with the latest Zaino.

Looking ahead on Core:

  • Fund quantization and note randomization and the Orchard to Ironwood migration are the major focus.
  • Zallet alpha.4: finish the third sync-engine item (migrating chain_view to the ChainIndex trait), land the Zaino v0.4.0 update that unblocks NU6.2 support and ephemeral DBs in Zallet, then release alpha.4.
  • Zaino and lightwalletd gRPC parity: drive integration tests to completion so the new public lightwalletd stays honest against Zaino-backed deployments.

Policy and Regulatory

  • DCG DC Fly-In. Paul Brigner represented ZODL, including a featured congressional briefing panel over lunch with Peter Van Valkenburgh (Coin Center) and Yaya Fanusie (Aleo). DCG’s recap.
  • PGPZ launched. The PGPZ site and the PGPZ Community are live. PGPZ stands for Pretty Good Policy for Zcash. The PGPZ Coalition launch will follow shortly. Please join the community site.
  • Outside counsel: ongoing collaboration with Accrediv on PGPZ, and the Arktouros engagement on Zodl-operated wallet infrastructure.

Other

  • Cozy is joining ZODL. Announcement.
  • Engagement with several security firms is underway for the interim Security Director.
  • We’re hiring. Open roles at jobs.ashbyhq.com/zodl.

Market and Ecosystem

Thinking Irrationally,

Onward.

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