#AI 🤖 AI finds critical crypto bugs: After
$ZEC , $XMR is under the spotlight
Artificial intelligence is taking cybersecurity to a new level, and it’s already causing panic in the market.
What happened?
Backend security engineer Taylor Hornby, using the Anthropic Opus 4.8 neural network, discovered a critical vulnerability in the Zcash (
$ZEC ) blockchain.
Scale of the problem: The bug had been lurking in the private Orchard pool since May 2022. It allowed attackers to create an unlimited number of fake ZEC coins, completely unnoticed.
Market reaction: News of the bug caused the price of Zcash to fall by 38% in a day, as investors became afraid that someone could have been secretly draining funds from the ecosystem for years.
Rescue: Hornby discovered the vulnerability on May 29, notified the developers, and on June 1, Shielded Labs released an emergency fix. Taylor said he did not exploit the bug because the Zcash developers are “like family” to him.
🎯 Next target: Monero (XMR)
After the triumph with Zcash, users on X (Twitter) asked the researcher if he planned to check other anonymous coins. The answer was affirmative: “Absolutely! I’m adding Monero to my next list to audit.”
Since in Monero all transactions are completely hidden by default (unlike Zcash, where there is a choice between public and private addresses), the potential discovery of a similar bug could have a huge impact on the industry.
⚠️ Main conclusion for fintech
This case confirmed the main fear of analysts: powerful AI models are becoming a weapon for finding hidden vulnerabilities. Experts warn that similar "sleeping" bugs, which no one noticed for years, can be hidden not only in crypto, but also in the software of traditional banking systems.