Zano Monthly Project Update #19 - April 2026

Gonbatfire

• 9 min read
Zano Monthly Project Update #19 - April 2026

Welcome zAnons to the 19th Zano Project Update!

April was a busy month on every front. The ecosystem kept growing with new exchange listings and the initial $ZANO support Unstoppable Wallet. On the content side, we launched a new explainer video series with the first episode breaking down Confidential Assets while onn the dev side, Hardfork 6 preparation continued with transaction hardening, ChaCha20 wallet encryption, and a new mobile app's release. Let's dive in!

Zano on Unstoppable Wallet

$ZANO is live on Unstoppable Wallet, one of the most feature-rich and privacy-respecting multi-asset wallets in the space. With its open-source foundation, zero-data-collection policy, and deep commitment to self-custody, Unstoppable Wallet is a natural fit for the Zano ecosystem.

The initial release is live on iOS. From day one you can send and receive $ZANO, view full transaction history, restore via BIP39 seed phrase, and use $fUSD as a Confidential Asset. Multi-asset swapping is also built in, meaning you can swap directly between $ZANO and other cryptocurrencies like BTC and ETH, all from within the app. Android support is coming in the months ahead, along with more Confidential Assets, Zano alias support, and DEX integration once Gateway Addresses go live.

Read the full announcement here.

Ecosystem Growth and Integrations

A packed month for the ecosystem. Here's what landed in April:

  • New listing on NeverKYC: $ZANO is now available on a privacy-first swap platform that delivers private, no-KYC exchanges with proprietary liquidity, competitive rates, and zero data collection.
  • New listing on Godex: $ZANO joined a platform supporting 300+ cryptocurrencies with no registration, KYC, or exchange limits. Swaps run fully automatic, 24/7.
  • New listing on SecureShift: A non-custodial exchange where users swap directly from wallet to wallet with no account registration, no mandatory KYC, and no custodial risk.
  • Mobile wallet v3.1.0 released: A major update bringing a better dApp browser, cleaner asset management, and improved security. Available on the App Store, Play Store, and directly from our website.
Zano Fact: Did you know every Zano coin is identical? No coin carries a transaction history that can be traced, flagged, or blacklisted. Hidden amounts and untraceable transactions mean no Zano coin (or confidential asset!) is ever "tainted." True fungibility, enforced at the protocol level.

Community Member of the Month

Huge congratulations to Bri Teresi for earning this month's award! Bri has been a long-time active Zano promoter and a genuine freedom fighter who truly understands what's at stake in today's battle for financial sovereignty. Through her Free The Money podcast, she has repeatedly brought Zano into the spotlight, introducing our project to audiences who care deeply about privacy, sound money, and parallel economies. Most recently, she proudly represented Zano at Bitcoin Vegas 2026, an effort we are incredibly grateful for. In a world increasingly shaped by surveillance and centralized control, Bri reminds us that real change requires real voices willing to speak up and stand firm. Thank you, Bri!

Events

The Zano AI Showcase Contest on NanoGPT wrapped up this month, and the results speak for themselves. $ZANO usage on the platform grew from 0.73% to 1.59% of total payments, more than doubling its share. We're glad to see the momentum continuing after the event wrapped. Thanks to everyone who participated!

On May 8th Zano turned 7! 🎉
Join us on Discord tomorrow Monday, May 11th at 4PM UTC for an anniversary quiz, $200 in prizes spread across 10 winners 🏆
Hope to see you there!

Media Content & Coverage

April marked the launch of something we've been working on for a while: a dedicated explainer video series designed to make Zano's technology accessible to everyone. The first episode dropped, and there's plenty more on the way.

Zano Fact: Did you know you can turn your $BTC into private Bitcoin directly in the Edge Wallet app? Bridge to $BTCx via Bridgeless and your Bitcoin becomes fully private. Same value, no trace. Download Edge Wallet and try it yourself: edge.app/get-started

Technical Upgrades

April brought a massive push across the full Zano stack. On the core side, the team focused on hardening transaction handling, strengthening P2P resilience, and finalizing key HF6 preparation work including tx size recalculation and stricter miner rules. Wallet encryption got a major upgrade with ChaCha20 support, and the mobile app underwent one of its most significant releases yet: Zano Companion integration, desktop platform builds for macOS/Windows/Linux, and a ground-up CI/CD overhaul for multi-platform distribution.

Core, Protocol & Cryptography

Transaction Output Shuffling: Enforced output shuffling by default in all wallet transfers. construct_tx_param::shuffle is now true by default, and simplewallet explicitly calls wallet2::transfer with shuffle enforcement. This closes a class of potential linkability issues where output ordering could leak information.

tree_hash Security Fix: Replaced alloca with heap malloc in tree_hash() to prevent potential stack overflow on large inputs.

Cryptographic Improvements:

  • generate_key_derivation() now returns false for arithmetically zero derivations, preventing a subtle edge case in key image computation
  • Balance proof and ASP/RP generation functions now take the whole transaction and decide internally whether a proof is needed, with range proofs skipped for zero confidential output transactions
  • Balance proof for HF6: zero confidential outputs case now handled correctly

HF6 Preparation:

  • Refactored tx size calculation for HF6, with dedicated validation terms and updated cumulative size checks
  • Stricter miner tx proof rules for HF6
  • Enforced tx version check after HF6 activation
  • Linked range proof count to confidential outputs count for post-HF6 transactions
  • Relaxed minimum outputs limit when a transaction contains only gateway outputs
  • Gateway RPC methods switched from MAP_JON_RPC_WE to MAP_JON_RPC, with status_error added to responses
  • Gateway owner change API implemented
  • gateway_create_transfer now splits the last destination when minimum outputs limit is not satisfied
  • Introduced additional_inputs_types_validations for stricter input validation

getblocktemplate Simulation Mode: A new simulation mode for getblocktemplate allows validating block templates without committing them. Empty blocks skip simulation. A new API_RETURN_CODE_SIMULATION_FAILED error code was added, along with force tx blacklisting on COMMAND_RPC_SUBMITBLOCK failure.

Wallet Improvements

ChaCha20 Wallet Encryption: Added ChaCha20 streaming encryption support for wallet files, with full refactoring and a fixed potential memory leak. This provides a modern, high-performance alternative to the existing encryption scheme.

Payment ID & Address Handling:

  • Self-directed transfers to integrated addresses are now forbidden across wallet, simplewallet, and RPC
  • Stricter auto-whitelisting rules for own assets
  • New payment ID handling logic in simplewallet: [legacy] prefix replaces --allow-legacy-payment-id-size
  • Fixed handling of etx_tx_details_unlock_time2 in wallet2
  • Old unlock_time non-coinbase transactions are now skipped in wallet processing
  • decrypt_tx_details improved with an optional strict_output_addresses_match flag

Simplewallet & CLI:

  • Password handling added for save_watch_only
  • list_outputs now optionally shows key images
  • Improved pending key image restoration process
  • New --resync-and-exit CLI option for automated wallet resync
  • Suppressed alloc console for plain wallet
  • Fixed reset connection in plain wallet

P2P & Network

  • Added CURRENCY_NOTIFY_REQUEST_CHAIN_MAX_BLOCKS_COUNT check for chain request validation
  • Packet size limits added to levin_client_impl
  • Handshake exception handling improved
  • Peers never seen before are now skipped in get_peerlist_head
  • Fixed throwable_buffer_reader::read_ae()
  • Fixed process_current_relay_que()
  • Fixed connection count limits in P2P

Frontend & Ecosystem

Zano Explorer:

  • Added raw block and transaction viewers
  • Added attachments field display
  • Added pool transaction pages
  • Updated price API accuracy

Zano Trade: The updated Zano Trade is live at dev.trade.zano.org and is scheduled to go to production on May 10.

Desktop GUI:

  • HTML content integrity check added
  • Split integrated address validation (PR #175)
  • Updated paste handler for address field
  • UI improvements for destination components with increased tooltip delay
  • Added translation for BAD_ARG_WRONG_PAYMENT_ID error

Mobile

The Zano Mobile app had its biggest month yet with 136 commits on the develop branch, spanning two releases (v3.1.0 hotfix and v3.1.1) and major new functionality.

Zano Companion Integration: The app now includes a built-in Zano Companion server. Users can configure the companion port, authorize connections, and select aliases directly from the mobile app. The companion settings UI was redesigned, and the server runs on a separate thread to avoid blocking the main UI.

Desktop Platform Builds: Major progress on desktop distribution. The app now builds for macOS (with notarization and code signing), Windows (including ARM64), and Linux (AppImage). A tray menu system was implemented with quit shortcuts, and tablet-specific layouts were introduced with adaptive screen sizing. CI/CD was restructured with a generalized build matrix covering Android, iOS, macOS, Windows, and Linux in a single orchestrated pipeline with consolidated build notifications.

App Improvements:

  • Fullscreen QR scanner with dedicated navigation screen
  • Redesigned toast system with daemon sync height display
  • Gesture updates and refresh controls on desktop
  • Wallet progress component and highlighted selected wallet
  • Theme refactoring and various style fixes
  • Android 16KB page size support, switch screen crash fix, menu position fixes
  • iOS swap proposal sharing fix, long press crash fix
  • Max button and alias symbol fixes
  • Focus window on second open (desktop)

Testing & QA

A strong month for automated testing. The core test suite now runs in multiprocess mode, approximately 4.6x faster than before. New tests include checkpoint handling, cumulative size validation, altchain gateway address scenarios, and shuffle parameter support in construct_tx_to_key(). The getblocktemplate pool invalidation test suite was expanded. GCC 8.4 compilation compatibility was addressed.

Build Releases: Released Builds 2.1.17.469 and 2.1.18.471, incorporating the above fixes and improvements. Testnet was restarted during the cycle to validate HF6 changes.

As we head into May, the focus shifts to the Zano Trade production launch and continued HF6 preparation for mainnet activation.

Zano Around the World

Zano Africa

April was amazing! We showed up big at the Wazobia Trade Fair alongside hundreds of merchants. Dozens of them are now accepting ZANO and FreedomDollar after we onboarded them on-site. We showcased real-time payments, answered questions, and supported their businesses directly.

Zano Latam/Spain

This month marked the most solid step in establishing our community. When Zano Latam-Spain started, getting interactions or likes was very difficult, and getting comments seemed impossible. Today we have all of that and now we discuss privacy news and features through our Spanish Telegram group with people. Plus, new bounties and events are coming.

Zano Venezuela

"Tu Nombre en la Blockchain" was a total hit, driving massive onboarding through alias subsidies! We've officially crossed 150 followers and the momentum is real. We're now hyped for our next big move: a new campaign to spark confidential asset usage and demonstrate the unique power of auditable wallets. Privacy meets transparency.

Zano Indonesia

Zano Indonesia is preparing for a grassroots event (May 16) targeting student activists alongside national intellectuals, including Doctors of Law and a philosopher close to the President of Indonesia. Focused on strategic branding, airdrops, and mobile wallet activation to drive high-quality on-chain adoption.

Zano India

Laid the foundation for all Indian channels (X, Telegram) and configured the basic bots. Also established a framework for regular ZANO content production. Ongoing initiatives include daily ZANO tweets, a "Learn With Me" ZANO video series, a weekly privacy newsletter, and daily engagement with other privacy advocates and communities. A Zealy campaign and 15-day video clip challenge have ended, and collaboration with Indian KOLs is upcoming.

Looking Ahead

Hardfork 6 prep is entering its final stages, and the list of places you can swap and spend ZANO keeps growing. On the content front, the explainer video series is just getting started, and the Lite wallet will make onboarding newcomers easier than ever. There's real momentum building across every part of the project. See you next month zAnons!

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