- Zcash plunged nearly 50% after reports emerged that an AI-discovered vulnerability affected its Orchard shielded pool.
- Arthur Hayes exited his entire ZEC position following the security scare, adding to selling pressure.
- Despite a rapid patch, uncertainty over whether the flaw was exploited triggered panic selling and more than $82 million in liquidations.
Zcash price just got wrecked as the privacy coin dropped nearly 50% today after multiple reports claimed Anthropic’s Claude Opus 4.8 uncovered a critical bug in the ZEC Orchard shielded pool.
The white hat who discovered the vulnerability says it was found using a surprisingly generic Claude Opus 4.8 prompt that could’ve been exploited by virtually anyone.
Although devs patched it fast, traders still can’t verify if anyone exploited the flaw before the fix. That uncertainty sent holders running for the exits.
Arthur Hayes Exits His Entire ZEC Position
Arthur Hayes did not hesitate. The BitMEX co-founder has sold all his ZEC after already dumping his ENA and HYPE bags. He called the “Holy Trinity” dead and took profit on the whole position in less than 24 hours.
Hayes said the Orchard Pool exploit that caused ZEC to crash 30% made him take profit on the entire position, further contributing to the massive price crash.
Following the increased volume amid traders cashing out, Zcash saw $82M in liquidations, the biggest flush since the Oct. 10 crash.
This crash comes just days after the market praised ZCash and Sui for leading in the crypto privacy sectors. By May 25, ZEC had increased 230% since March.
The ZEC price implosion took place as Bitcoin caught a wave of selling pressure, falling 20% since the Clarity Act passed the Senate Banking Committee on May 19. Spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded $4.36 billion in outflows during that stretch, with almost no inflows until today.
Some traders blame liquidity rotation into stocks that keep hitting all-time highs, while others say big players are quietly accumulating cheaper before full regulatory clarity kicks in.
The Bitcoin price chart shows a clean downtrend from the May 19 high near $82,000, with giant red candles showing the exact 20.2% plunge to $61,905.
Zcash has stabilized a bit after the white-hat patch, but the trust hit lingers. BTC has carved out support around 61k for now, yet the ETF outflow numbers show institutions have not finished rotating.
