ecc

Project Eleven today awarded the Q-Day prize to researcher Giancarlo Lelli, who successfully derived a 15-digit elliptic curve private key from a public key using publicly accessible quantum hardware, marking the largest scale demonstration of its kind to date, a 512-fold increase from the 6-digit demonstration in September 2025.Lelli used a variant of Shor's algorithm for the elliptic curve discrete logarithm problem, which is the mathematical foundation of the Bitcoin signature scheme, with the awarded hardware featuring approximately 70 qubits. Currently, no known quantum computer can crack real Bitcoin wallets, and the security of Bitcoin's 256-bit elliptic curve remains far beyond current quantum capabilities. Notably, Google lowered its resource estimates for ECDLP-256 on March 31 and set a target for the migration to quantum cryptography after 2029, followed by Cloudflare, and the UK's NCSC also set migration milestones from 2028 to 2035.On-chain data shows that approximately 6.93 million BTC are at potential quantum risk due to exposed public keys. The Bitcoin community has proposed BIP 360 and BIP 361 to promote the migration to quantum-resistant output types, but the coordination challenges of a decentralized network remain the biggest hurdle.

According to CriptoNoticias, Colombia's second-largest pension fund manager, AFP Protección, plans to launch a Bitcoin exposure fund for long-term asset allocation and diversification, rather than short-term speculation.The product will be available to investors who meet risk assessment criteria through a personalized investment advisory process, allowing them to allocate only a portion of their portfolio to Bitcoin. Protección manages the assets of approximately 8.5 million clients, covering mandatory pensions, voluntary pensions, and severance accounts, with assets under management exceeding 220 trillion Colombian pesos (about 55 billion USD).

According to official news, the Zcash Foundation has announced that in response to the Electric Coin Company (ECC) ceasing service responses for its DNS seed nodes, five new DNS seed nodes have been deployed in the United States and Europe. The newly deployed seed nodes are located in South Carolina and Oregon in the United States, as well as in Belgium, Germany, and Finland in Europe.As of now, including the existing seed nodes, the total number of seed nodes operated by the Zcash Foundation has reached six, aimed at ensuring reliable node discovery for users and improving the startup performance of wallets and nodes.In addition, the Zcash Foundation is considering further deployments in other regions to enhance coverage and reliability, and Shielded Labs is also working on deploying additional seed nodes.

The CEO of ECC, the original development team of Zcash, Josh Swihart, stated in a post on X that they will continue to fully invest in Zcash. In addition, they will build a new Zcash wallet, which is now open for pre-application.

ECC's former CEO Josh Swihart stated that due to serious differences in mission with some board members of the Zcash governance body Bootstrap (ZCAM), all members of ECC (Electric Coin Company) collectively resigned yesterday and are forming a new company to continue the development of Zcash-related privacy technologies.Swihart emphasized that the Zcash protocol itself is unaffected, and this move aims to resist destructive interference from the governance layer, ensuring that the team can sustainably advance the vision of "unstoppable private money."

ChainCatcher message, according to the Web3 asset data platform RootData X tracking data, in the past 7 days, the unified blockchain ecosystem MECCA has been the project with the most new X (Twitter) top influencer followers, including crypto industry KOL 嗯哼 (@enheng456), 2Lambroz (@2lambro), and crypto KOL 孤鹤.hl (@ZKSgu) who have recently followed this project.In addition, the project with the most X top influencer followers also includes flyingtulip.

ChainCatcher news, according to Bitcoin.com, the blockchain-based Mecca ecosystem has secured a strategic investment of $8 million from a consortium of global investors, including Gemhead Capital, Alpha Capital, BD Ventures, and several well-known Asian family offices.Mecca aims to pioneer the next generation of financial and payment ecosystems, with core principles encompassing sustainable reward-driven financial models, transparent participant-centered income structures, and environmentally conscious blockchain frameworks. Its design is scalable and meets the demands of the Fourth Industrial Revolution for seamless integration across industries.The Solana-based Mecca decentralized application (DApp) payment solution is expected to launch in the coming months, supporting both online and offline transactions, embedding Mecca tokens into real-world payment systems to enhance utility. Currently, Mecca plans to use the funding to accelerate development, enhance technological infrastructure, and drive innovation in the blockchain industry.

ChainCatcher news, Jito Labs founder buffalu announced the appointment of Rebecca Rettig as the company's Chief Legal Officer (CLO), who will officially take office next week.Rebecca previously served as the Legal Director at Talos and has extensive experience in the DeFi space. At Jito Labs, she will lead legal, compliance, and policy matters, focusing on the evolving staking ETF space and participating in the development of MEV-related policies.

ChainCatcher news, the Zcash protocol development company Electric Coin Company (ECC) stated in a community forum that the company is initiating a more decentralized process for facilitating Zcash-centered digital property ownership and management. These digital assets include the z.cash website, Zcash technical documentation center, Zcash Twitter account, Cypherpunk Zero website, and assets.The first phase will be to establish a transitional working group composed of ECC representatives and qualified community members. The working group is accepting applications from the community, with a deadline of September 15.The working group will be responsible for: establishing standards for assessing shared ownership models; facilitating open dialogue and idea exchange within the community; selecting the most suitable ownership model and owners based on community feedback; and developing a clear roadmap. This will outline expectations and responsibilities for the new structure, including transitional milestones such as the transfer or opening of technical infrastructure and the establishment of new governance mechanisms.

ChainCatcher news, Zcash developer Electronic Coin Company (ECC) announced a restructuring of the company, laying off 13 employees, about half of its team members.ECC stated that the bear market has impacted its financial situation, limiting its development. The restructuring will focus time and resources on key areas within Zcash, while other work will be transferred to the Zcash community.In the coming weeks, ECC will release a revised roadmap, focusing on empowering ZEC holders and giving them a voice. This includes: creating an excellent user experience for PoS ZEC; developing a wallet by Zcasher that anyone can easily use; a mobile wallet SDK that will be useful for other Zcash builders; and policy work in the U.S. to ensure that ZEC, self-custody, and staking remain viable in the U.S.ECC noted that recent work to address third-party wallet performance issues remains its current top priority, and ECC is committed to releasing zcash 5.6.0, an updated version of lightwalletd, and new iOS and Android mobile SDKs. (source link)

ChainCatcher news, NFT market maker protocol Protecc Labs has completed a $1.5 million seed round financing, led by Dialectic, with participation from UOB Venture Management, Signum Capital, Interlinked Capital, Side Door Ventures, 0xVentures, Kronos Ventures, 3.0 Capital, Concave Ventures, and Cogitent Ventures. (source link)