Anthropic’s Secret AI Model Mythos Audits Entire Zcash Protocol, Finds No New Bugs

Zooko Thanks Anthropic After Full Protocol Audit

The statement came straight from Zooko, the online grip for Zooko Wilcox-O’Hearn, machine information specialist, cryptographer, and co-creator of Zcash. Writing connected X, helium said:

“Thanks, Anthropic, for helping support Zcash users. At Shielded Labs’s request, they ran a information audit of Zcash with Mythos. It did not find immoderate much superior bugs successful the Zcash protocol. Shielded Labs and others are continuing information hardening work. Stay tuned for updates.”

The station arrived 1 week aft the nationalist disclosure of a captious soundness bug successful the Orchard shielded pool, which had triggered a 38% to 50% terms illness successful ZEC wrong 48 hours of going nationalist connected June 4 and 5.

What Mythos Is and Why It Matters

Anthropic’s Mythos Preview is the company’s astir precocious AI model, introduced successful April 2026 arsenic portion of its Project Glasswing antiaircraft information initiative. Unlike the Claude models disposable to the wide public, Mythos is not publically accessible. Anthropic restricts entree to a constricted radical of trusted partners, including large exertion companies and captious infrastructure projects, precisely due to the fact that of its capabilities successful autonomous information research, zero-day vulnerability detection, and analyzable codebase analysis.

Many observers successful the X thread wondered however the Zcash squad was allowed to usage Mythos. Zooko’s connection came conscionable earlier some Claude’s Fable 5 and Mythos were unopen down by the U.S. authorities this weekend. Image source: X.

Shielded Labs, the nonprofit enactment supporting Zcash development, secured entree to Mythos and directed the audit astatine the full Zcash protocol.

The Orchard Bug That Triggered the Crisis

The Mythos audit follows a harrowing occurrence for Zcash holders. In precocious May 2026, information researcher Taylor Hornby, moving nether declaration with Shielded Labs, utilized a customized AI auditing model built astir Claude Opus 4.8 to place an under-constrained circuit constituent successful the Orchard shielded pool’s zero-knowledge impervious system. The flaw had existed since Orchard’s activation successful May 2022 and had gone undetected for astir 4 years contempt anterior adept audits.

The bug represented a supply- inflation risk. An attacker with capable method cognition could person minted counterfeit ZEC wrong the privateness pool, wholly undetectable on-chain.

Developers moved fast. A brushed fork connected June 2 temporarily disabled each Orchard actions. A hard fork connected June 3, the NU6.2 upgrade, activated a corrected circuit and re-enabled Orchard with nary concatenation split.

Public disclosure connected June 4 and 5 inactive triggered a crisp selloff. ZEC fell from a pre-disclosure terms adjacent $624 to intraday lows approaching $300 connected immoderate exchanges, wiping billions from the market cap successful hours.

What the Clean Audit Means for ZEC Holders

The Mythos effect does not adjacent the publication connected information work. Zooko was explicit that efforts continue. Shielded Labs and different contributors are pressing guardant with information hardening, which includes ceremonial verification of the Orchard circuit, further AI-assisted auditing, and plans to prosecute a Head of Security and a dedicated cryptographer.

The Ironwood upgrade, targeting activation successful precocious July 2026, volition deploy a caller shielded excavation utilizing the corrected Orchard circuit and enforce stricter turnstile accounting to let autarkic proviso verification. The Ironwood connection straight addresses lingering questions astir proviso integrity that the Orchard bug introduced.

ZEC Price Holds Above $400

As of June 13, ZEC trades successful the $411 to $416 range, stabilizing supra the $400 enactment level aft recovering 45% to 80% from June 5 lows. The market cap sits adjacent $6.9 to $7.0 billion. ZEC ranks successful the apical 12 to 15 cryptocurrencies by market cap astatine existent prices.

The Mythos audit result, combined with the velocity of the exigency hole and the Ironwood roadmap, has supported the recovery. Price remains good beneath the June 4 highest adjacent $624, with the adjacent large catalyst apt tied to advancement connected Ironwood.

Security Work Continues

Zooko’s connection closed with a wide signal: this is not a declaration of completion. “Stay tuned for updates,” helium wrote, pointing to an ongoing programme that present includes immoderate of the astir precocious AI information tooling disposable anywhere.

For ZEC holders, the cleanable Mythos audit provides meaningful reassurance aft a turbulent 2 weeks. The protocol’s astir almighty disposable reviewer recovered thing new. The squad is inactive looking.