Zcash Co-Founder Says Privacy Tool Was Used in Coinholder Vote

Sean Bowe, a Zcash co-founder, said private information retrieval was used in the network’s recent coinholder vote, a privacy method designed to hide what data a user requests from a server. The vote ran from Aug. 25 to Sept. 14, 2026, and closed at 3 p.m. ET (19:00 UTC) on Sept. 14. Private information retrieval, or PIR, lets someone request relevant blockchain data without revealing which information they seek. That privacy feature could help shielded wallets check for incoming payments without signaling what they are checking.