Vitalik Buterin Supports Crosslink Growth with Donation to Shielded Labs

Highlights:

• Shielded Labs announced that Vitalik Buterin has made a financial contribution to advance Crosslink’s expansion.
• The company is working on advancing its Crosslink into a long-running test network. 
• Crosslink integration will make Zcash more secure without changing the network’s existing functionalities.

Shielded Labs, a Switzerland-based company that focuses on strengthening Zcash through protocol work, has received fresh backing from Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin. According to an article published on X, Shielded Labs confirmed that Buterin made a new donation to support a key network upgrade called Crosslink. 

With the new funding, Shielded Labs hopes to advance the Crosslink beyond its early-prototype stage into a long-running test network that enables participants to earn ZEC. The team also plans to prepare an upgrade for a potential deployment on the main Zcash network. This will, however, depend on the community’s response after reviewing the proposal. For context, the Shielded Labs team is funded by donations from Zcash supporters and operates separately from the network’s Dev Fund and block rewards.

https://t.co/wC7b7TmD5u

— Shielded Labs (@ShieldedLabs) February 6, 2026

How Crosslink will Operate

Crosslink is designed to make Zcash more secure without changing how the network currently runs. Meanwhile, Zcash will still rely on Proof-of-Work (PoW) for mining, transactions, and rewards. Overall, Crosslink will bring an extra layer to help lock in blocks once they are confirmed. This makes it difficult for attackers to reverse transactions after they have already been confirmed. 

The new setup aims to reduce the risk of double-spending by ensuring that completed transactions remain protected. It will also allow cryptocurrency exchanges to shorten the number of confirmations they require, make cross-chain tools more dependable, and support apps that need clear settlement rules. For Zcash, the upgrade makes it easier to connect with other parts of the crypto space while maintaining its current security model.   

Vitalik Buterin’s Financial Support Will Fund Many Other Projects within Shielded Labs

Aside from advancing Crosslink, Buterin’s donation will go into converting the proposed prototype into a working product, launching an incentive test network, and writing clear technical plans. Other projects that will be funded include conducting security checks and audits, working closely with wallet teams, infrastructure providers, and the wider Zcash community. 

Beyond community support, any activation move on the main network will depend on technical readiness and safety reviews. Meanwhile, Buterin explained that his support stemmed from Zcash’s long-standing focus on privacy. According to him, the Crosslink upgrade will help Zcash to remain secure while reducing long-term costs. 

The Ethereum co-founder stated:

“Zcash is one of the most honourable crypto projects with a steadfast focus on privacy. Shielded Labs’ Crosslink work will allow Zcash to be more secure and on a lower security budget, supporting its long-term sustainability.”

Vitalik Buterin has donated to Shielded Labs to support development of Crosslink, a proposed consensus upgrade for Zcash. Crosslink adds a parallel finality layer on top of Zcash’s existing PoW consensus, aiming to reduce reorg and rollback risks while providing stronger…

— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) February 6, 2026

Vitalik Buterin Continues to Show Strong Support for Crypto-Focused Firms

This is not the first time Buterin has supported the Shielded Labs’ team. In 2023, his donation was part of what the company used to form a dedicated group focused on Crosslink. Shielded Labs noted that Buterin’s consistent involvement in the company reflects years of interest in Zcash’s design and security discussions.

The company also thanked the Ethereum co-founder for his continuous support to its ongoing projects. “We appreciate his continued engagement with the Zcash ecosystem and his willingness to help advance work that makes Zcash stronger and more resilient,” Shielded Labs team added.    

In November 2025, Buterin criticized Zcash’s governance model. In an X post, he warned the Zcash community against token-weighted voting. According to the Ethereum co-founder, the voting model poses significant privacy risks in the long term. “Token voting is worse than the status quo of Zcash,” he stressed.