Zano Activates Hard Fork 6, Opening The Privacy Chain to Exchanges, Bridges and DEXs

Zano has activated Hard Fork 6 (HF6) on its mainnet at block 3,833,000, marking the most extensive upgrade in the network’s seven‑year history.

Gateway Addresses for Easier Integration

The upgrade adds “Gateway Addresses,” a new account‑style address type that provides a single, directly tracked balance. This simplifies integration for centralized exchanges, decentralized exchanges (DEXs) and cross‑chain bridges while keeping Zano’s privacy guarantees. Existing address types remain unchanged, so users can continue using the traditional privacy‑focused addresses.

Native ZANO Cross‑Chain Bridging

HF6 enables the native ZANO token to move non‑custodially to transparent blockchains, including Ethereum, Solana and TON. When ZANO is on these external networks it is public, but it regains Zano’s privacy protections when bridged back. Previously, only assets such as BTC, ETH and SOL could be bridged into Zano for privacy; now the flow works both ways.

Security and Reliability Enhancements

• Stronger consensus with tighter validation rules and a clearer fork‑choice rule.
• Hardened wallet encryption to resist cracking of stolen or copied files.
• Improved mining pool resilience, allowing pools to dry‑run blocks and drop bad transactions.
• Each output now carries its own payment ID, aiding exchanges and merchants in reconciling payments while preserving recipient privacy.
• Anti‑DoS limits, SOCKS5 proxy support for Tor routing, and a hardened RPC interface for third‑party services.

Future Roadmap

HF6 is a prerequisite for the upcoming Zano Execution Layer (ZEL), an EVM‑compatible chain intended to bring smart contracts to the Zano ecosystem while retaining privacy. ZEL’s launch date is not yet fixed. Zano also announced a future consensus protocol called Zenith, a pure proof‑of‑stake design slated for 2027, targeting 15‑second block times in 10‑minute epochs.