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A security researcher using Anthropic's Opus 4.8 model uncovered a critical vulnerability in Zcash's Orchard shielded pool that could have been exploited to create unlimited undetectable counterfeit ZEC, according to a disclosure published Thursday by Shielded Labs.

Researcher Taylor Hornby discovered the bug on May 29 using a custom AI auditing framework paired with Opus 4.8, which Anthropic released May 28. The vulnerability had been live since Orchard's activation in May 2022. The Zcash Open Development Lab patched it in an emergency upgrade completed June 2.

ZEC dropped 31% in 24 hours to $409.64 on the disclosure. Founder Zooko Wilcox-O'Hearn said exploitation before the patch was "unlikely" given Hornby's targeted effort but acknowledged Orchard's privacy properties make prior exploitation cryptographically unprovable. Shielded Labs is preparing a network upgrade proposal that would allow verification of the ZEC supply.

Bitcoin dipped below $62,000 Thursday, touching a session low near $61,463 before recovering to roughly $64,000, down 14% on the week and 22% over the past month. The drawdown places BTC roughly 51% below its October 2025 all-time high of $126,277.

Standard Chartered head of digital assets research Geoff Kendrick told clients the bear stretch may be ending. "This week has been painful in crypto. There is really no other way of putting it," Kendrick wrote. "But I think when we look back at the end of 2026 with BTC at $100,000 and ETH at $4,000, we will say this was the buying zone we all wanted."

Kendrick's case rests on three pillars: a Strategy buyback echoing its 2022 pattern, spot ETF AUM that has held up better than feared, and a near-term oil-driven macro relief.

Coinbase launched pre-IPO perpetual futures on its International Exchange Wednesday, starting with SpaceX under the ticker SPCX-PERP. The contracts are USDC-settled, trade 24/7 with no expiry, and offer up to 5x leverage through Coinbase's BMA-licensed Bermuda entity. The product is available only to eligible users outside the US.

The contract references a valuation-based index rather than a share price. When SpaceX completes its IPO and the final 424B4 prospectus is filed, Coinbase will rebase the contract into a standard per-share equity perp via a P&L-neutral adjustment with a five-minute TWAP bridge.

SpaceX filed Amendment No. 1 to its S-1 Monday, setting an IPO price of $135 per share and targeting $75 billion in proceeds at a roughly $1.75 trillion valuation. Trading on Nasdaq is expected to begin June 12 under ticker SPCX. Coinbase plans to expand pre-IPO perps to AI, energy, and space companies.

JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and other major US banks plan to launch a tokenized deposit network in the first half of 2027, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The network will be operated by The Clearing House, the real-time payments company jointly owned by the participating banks. Internally referred to as "the bridge" or "the chain," it would enable tokenized deposits to settle instantly across blockchain rails 24/7. Clearing House CEO David Watson called it "a big move for the banks" and said the industry faces a "radically different" future around onchain finance.

The move is a direct competitive response to stablecoins. Tokenized deposits represent actual bank deposits on a blockchain rather than separately issued tokens, preserving FDIC insurance and the regulated deposit framework while adding programmability and 24/7 settlement.

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