The Zcash Foundation went through a tense journey before the Overwinter update which will take place today, June 25th, at 9:08 PM EDT, at the block 347,500 of the Zcash (ZEC) main network. This update is not a bifurcation and will not create a new currency. In order to avoid problems in the update process, the Zcash team has extended the invitation to external developers to review the code versions.
This Overwinter update of the Zcash (ZEC) protocol is expected to protect against repeating transactions and will prepare the system for future code releases. Overwinter will serve as a stable base for the activation of Zcash Sapling, the essential software upgrade of the year that will take place by the end of 2018.
Third parties have already provided support for this update, including AirTM, Binance, Bitfinex, Huobi Pro, Gemini, and Exodus Wallet.
However, in the days leading up to the update, a debate arose on the economic status of those who contribute to the development of the network, following a release from D. Jane Mercer, who programmed codes to implement them in the Zcash wallets.
Zcash (ZEC) protocol is now ready to get the Overwinter update
Mercer threatened managers with halting development of Zcash’s Windows client for the upcoming updates planned on the network, according to the publication of the client in the Zcash forum. Also, there was the possibility of creating a hard fork and freeing a competitor “marked with another name,” in the so-called “Bitcoin Cash style,” from not receiving payment for his work.
Although, as Gareth Davies says in the same thread, the secure activation mode will by default include the older nodes that still use Zcash4win, who will be forced to upgrade to the legacy string before they can process transactions, so the Overwinter implementation will not bifurcate those nodes that run the software prior to WinZec version 1.1.0.
Mercer received funding from the Zcash community in the hours following its announcement. Accumulating the demanded 80 Zcash (ZEC), valued at $13,200, he later stated that he was satisfied while adding that he spoke with executives from the Zcash Foundation and solved the issues.
Yesterday, June 24th, Mercer announced on Twitter that it has already updated the codes for the Zcash Windows client, so it is ready for the Overwinter update implementation.
