Zano Monthly Project Update #10 - July 2025
Welcome zAnons to the 10th Zano Project Update!
July marked the most impactful moment of the year so far, thanks to the launch of Confidential Layer’s bridge, bringing Zano into the cross-chain ecosystem. We dedicated an entire post to this milestone, so check it out if you haven’t already!
That said, there’s still plenty more to cover, so let’s dive in.
Community Member of the Month
Let's kick off with our latest award winner: The Zano Meetup Community!
They recently organized their first-ever Zano meetup in New York City, where attendees learned to set up wallets, received Zano airdrops, and discussed privacy and peer-to-peer money.
Want to join their efforts? They’re looking for co-organizers; they can assist with page management, event flow, and marketing.
It’s incredible to see such a grassroots initiative pushing the movement forward. Thank you for turning vision into action!
Zano Fact #1: Did you know that over 70% of Zano’s supply is being staked? Meaning that most of our marketcap is directly securing the network, plus every staker is required to run their own full node.
Major Mobile Wallet Redesign
Last month, we had a major mobile wallet update! Check out what's new:
- Custom icons for whitelisted assets
- Private NFT support via Obscura integration
- Hold multiple aliases per wallet
- Send assets to multiple addresses in one transaction
- Boomark all Zano dApps
- Point-of-sale terminal QR code integration
- Major UI & UX redesign
- Enhanced performance and stability
Please consider leaving a review on the App Store & Play Store, the more reviews the Zano Wallet has, the more credible it looks, which is crucial for attracting new zAnons!
Events and Giveaways
- We've just launched a $200 giveaway on our Instagram. Make sure to follow us there! (embed link to contest when ready)
- The first community-hosted event was held on July 8th in New York City.
- We co-hosted a giveaway with the folks from SimpleSwap.
Ecosystem Growth and Integrations
- CoinoSwap has integrated Zano into its swap platform.
- The Confidential Layer bridge went live, enabling users to bridge BTC, ETH, BNB, and DAI to the Zano blockchain, upgrading these assets with the privacy standard of our blockchain. Try it out: https://app.confidentiallayer.com/.
Technical Upgrades
Network Privacy & Spy Node Mitigation
During an internal investigation, the team identified ~24 spy nodes believed to be monitoring staking and network behavior. In response, we’ve taken several steps to immediately strengthen network-level privacy:
- Spy Node Blacklist Deployed:
A spy node blacklist was created and enabled on all core nodes, halting observable spy activity. - Manual P2P Configuration Support:
Nodes can now load peer settings from a p2p_manual_config.json file, which includes support for:
- ip_black_list to block suspicious peers
- use_only_priority_peers and priority_peers_list to connect only to trusted backbone nodes
- A sample configuration has been provided for stakers seeking additional protection.
Refer to the full privacy advisory post for setup instructions and recommendations. While this is a short-term fix, we are actively working on long-term protocol-level solutions to make staking behavior more resistant to analysis.
Core, Wallet & Protocol Improvements
Cold Signing & Watch-Only Enhancements:
- Implemented key image restoration for watch-only wallets (critical for cold signing).
- Fixed an issue with asset transfers using cold signing (real output blinded asset id check failed).
- Introduced new RPC: clear_utxo_cold_sig_reservation for cleaning unused reserved outputs.
Wallet & RPC Additions:
- Added transfer_so command to simplewallet, allowing use of specific outputs.
- New RPC options:
- get_wallet_restore_info made non-synchronized
- tx_comment is now placed in the extra field for consistency and only permitted if all destinations match
- Integrated address must be the first destination if used
Privacy & Stability:
- Removed hop counter in block relaying to slightly enhance anonymity.
- Fixed potential thread unsafety in the random number generator.
- Fixed a potential bug where asset ownership transfers could cause unintended local whitelisting.
Bug Fixes & Improvements:
- Resolved crash on macOS Sonoma (#483) related to memory limits.
- Improved error handling in zlib.
- Console detection added to avoid terminal issues.
- Improved JSON parsing and deserialization edge cases.
- Replaced incorrect symbol for password masking in UI.
Testing:
- Continued strengthening of core tests and unit test infrastructure, ensuring future development remains robust and regression-free.
New Wallet Releases
New desktop and mobile wallet versions have been released, bringing:
- Spy node protection features
- Improved user experience
- Cold signing and integrated key image recovery
Zano Trade: Post-Review Improvements & Migration
Following a successful Immunefy bug bounty review, we’re excited to announce a major step forward in Zano Trade infrastructure:
API Migration:
- The Zano Trade API now lives at its dedicated endpoint:
🔗 https://api.trade.zano.org/ - Please update any bots, apps, or integrations to use this new address.
Repository Split:
- We've separated the frontend and backend into standalone repos:
- Frontend Repo
- Backend Repo
Documentation:
Zano Fact #2: Did you know you can track all relevant data from Zano’s blockchain on ZanoStats.com?
Released Content
- ITZV episode #17 was recorded with Corbin, CEO of Bitcoin.com.
- We launched a new educational rubric on our X account named 'What Can You Build on Zano' to highlight the endless possibilities of what users can do with our blockchain.
- Aaron Day talks about the continuous growth of the Zano ecosystem:
Online Coverage
- Our CM Gonbatfire continues to be a co-host in Dashpay's weekly space, engaging with guests outside our usual privacy crypto sphere. Make sure to check it out!
- Bitcoin.com CEO, Corbin Fraser, mentioned Zano on a panel at CryptoExpo Dubai.
- Bitcoin.com has released two new videos promoting Zano and Freedom Dollar.
AMAs/Interviews
- Quinten (Mr Kwibs) participated in a livestream of Sal Mayweather on a boat in Amsterdam.
- Quinten participated in an AMA with the folks from Edge Wallet to talk about the new features.
- Quinten joined Crypto Rich on an X spaces hosted by The Coin Republic.
Zano Around the World
Zano Africa
July was an electrifying month for the Zano Africa community. We ran a Zano adventure contest that generated 39 entries, with people taking Zano to different parts of their localities and showcasing the project across diverse locations. The momentum has been incredible, building amazing anticipation for the upcoming Zano meetup in Kano, which has now hit 250 registered attendees.
Zano French
This month, the Zano Francophone community launched #AskZano a trilingual Q&A hub on Twitter! A Twitter AMA with French crypto communities is planned for September, and a major EU tech marketplace approached us for a potential Zano payment integration.
Zano Latam/Spain
July was a great month for upgrading our exposure strategies. We established an average level of interactions across all our Spanish-language accounts, and now we are looking to launch a new content strategy. In addition, we made efforts to negotiate with privacy-focused creators and improved our relationships.
Zano Brazil
This month, we released a detailed document on Zano’s tech architecture, highlighting Confidential Layer as a key privacy milestone in crypto. We joined two AMAs to discuss privacy and created beginner-friendly content on why and how to use Zano. In August, we’ll represent Zano at Coinfest Asia, joining panels and engaging with the local community.
Zano Fact #3: Zano Matrix Messenger offers a spam-free, decentralized, and private platform with end-to-end encryption. Connect with your Zano alias and start using it today!
Miscellaneous
- Our friends from ZanoList have released a brand new Telegram AI bot that is trained on Zano's documentation, research papers, and other knowledge sources. Try it out today and expand your knowledge about Zano!
- Edge Wallet has updated its wallet and integrated various new features for Zano.
- In collaboration with ImmuneFi, we've launched a brand new bug bounty program with up to $20,000 for finding bugs across our entire blockchain.
- The Zano team has expanded with three new full-time developers, allowing us to work on our roadmap items at a faster pace.
Conclusion
As we mentioned in our previous blog, the launch of Confidential Layer marks the next stage in the Zano ecosystem, but our efforts don’t stop there. We’re pushing hard to make Zano faster, more secure, and easier to use than ever before. None of this would be possible without the passion and support of our amazing community. Stick with us as we continue building toward a truly private, seamless, and accessible digital cash experience. See you in the next update, zAnons!