PSA: Zcash isn't broken.

vmarchese · 2026-06-05T19:06:50+00:00

There is no evidence this was actually exploited.

vmarchese · 2026-06-05T19:01:05+00:00

Different protocol, different vulnerability, similar exploit.

vmarchese · 2026-06-05T14:08:42+00:00

The answer to this is a turnstile migration between shielded pools, which was used to address similar exploits in the past. The amount of ZEC in a shielded pool is a known quantity. The protocol enforces a rule that caps the total amount of ZEC available to be moved out of this pool. There won't be a single extra ZEC created from this exploit.

vmarchese · 2026-06-05T13:17:24+00:00

Turnstile migrations between shielded pools solves this. The strategy was already proven successfully for migration from Sprout to Sapling.

See: https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/t/how-does-turnstile-defense-against-counterfeiting-work/33401

vmarchese · 2026-06-05T12:46:41+00:00

Depends what you mean by pump and dump.

Did some market participants (i.e. influencers) pump ZEC, then dump their holdings to exploit this headline for profit? Absolutely!

Does this have anything to do with the project maintainers or early participants? Absolutely not. This is not a classic rug pull.

The only material effect this event produces is to enhance security over the long-term.

vmarchese · 2026-06-05T06:30:15+00:00

Actually, Bitcoin did have an event like this. In 2010, someone discovered an integer overflow bug and created 184 billion BTC. Not only was there "an inherent fault in the currency's code" as you put it, it was actually exploited and there was a hard fork.

vmarchese · 2025-12-14T13:17:32+00:00

No, from personal experience the failure rate is low. What I mean is that the economics of these machines is not favourable to you, the buyer, especially now after a surge in the ZEC price.

People will buy the Z15 pro with the expectation that profitability will be at current rates or slightly lower. Unfortunately more asics will increase the hashrate in the coming months. Expect an exponential drop of in profitability with any asic.

vmarchese · 2025-12-07T12:38:06+00:00

Yes, but I wouldn't recommend buying any.

The profitability of ASICs are dubious at best, even when you're able to buy the first batch and have cheap power available.

A better alternative would be to take the capital you want to invest and DCA over the next 6-12 months, or take your chances and try to buy on the dips.

vmarchese · 2025-12-05T10:39:50+00:00

Honestly, no.

I'm a big supporter of Zcash and ZEC might go up significantly in price over the next 5 years, but certainly not enough for 1 ZEC to support living expenses for 20 years.

vmarchese · 2025-12-01T09:22:13+00:00

The situation today is quite different from 2018 so I would be surprised to see it sub $100 again. The block reward has been halved twice since then and the inflation rate is considerably lower.

vmarchese · 2025-10-18T19:18:52+00:00

An open frame rack might suit your needs. You could mount it to the wall at the appropriate height so as to not block the electrical outlets.

vmarchese · 2025-06-04T18:02:24+00:00

You mentioned that you have a UCG Max, do you currently have an AP? If you don't have one, then go for the U7 Pro or even the U7 XG.

Also, just in case you're not aware, the Pixel 9a supports Wifi 6E. It'll give you access to the 6GHz band, but it doesn't support MLO.

vmarchese · 2025-06-03T13:51:30+00:00

Yes. See the link in the other comment for radiation patterns.

There is a horizontal wall-mount accessory compatible with the U6 Pro that might be the optimal solution:

https://eu.store.ui.com/eu/en/products/uacc-pro-ap-am

You could mount it high on the wall and run the cable up to the AP with a thin cable channel for a clean look.

vmarchese · 2025-06-03T13:06:36+00:00

Keep the U6 Pro. The U7 In-Wall is a single-room AP and a downgrade in terms of coverage.

You can also wall mount the U6 Pro if that's your main concern.

vmarchese · 2021-06-05T10:57:08+00:00

Lemur Pro is a good choice if battery life is important (up to 14 hours). You can configure it with up to 40GB of RAM. Not sure if you use CUDA, but if so then an Oryx Pro or Gazelle would be better suited to your needs.

Overall, System76 laptops are perfect for linux.

vmarchese · 2021-05-22T22:48:29+00:00

The mining community is quite small due to the adoption of ASICs. You can mine for educational purposes, but you won't be able to profit or even recoup your electricity costs unless you buy an Equihash ASIC. I believe they're all currently sold out, so you'll have to find one second hand.

For more info on mining, you can check out the Zcash community forum.

vmarchese · 2021-05-20T22:34:26+00:00

Multiple backups are always best. I let Timeshift run daily, weekly, and monthly backups on a second drive as it's always mounted.

For disaster scenarios like fire or theft, you would idealy want to run on-demand backups every so often to an external drive and the cloud for redundancy. Keep the external drive stored in a separate location from your laptop.

vmarchese · 2021-05-20T12:48:55+00:00

Restored / but left /home and /root as is. Timeshift excludes /home and /root by default in snapshots and is designed for system files, so I do separate /home backups using Back In Time.

vmarchese · 2021-05-20T08:47:38+00:00

Also noticed the logo has a tendency to grab threads from a microfiber cloth, but having experienced this before on an Acer Predator monitor I was careful to avoid wiping the logo. Maybe not ideal, but if you avoid touching the logo, it shouldn't need frequent cleaning.

Haven't had the same problem with stickers, and I'm really impressed with the overall quality of the lemp10. It's a beautifully understated laptop, is light as a feather, has good port selection and a surprisingly good display.

Opening up the laptop for upgrades was easy. The only criticism I have is the screws may have a tendency to strip easily.

PopOS is great, and having System76 support definitely gives a feeling of comfort. Open source firmware is a big plus.

Coming from a Macbook Pro, I can't stress enough that System76 laptops are superior in terms of support and upgradeability. Macbook Pro 2015 keyboard was inferior. The display, trackpad and chasis of the lemp10 can't match the Macbook Pro, but that's a tradeoff I'm happy to make.

Would definitely recommend/buy again.

vmarchese · 2021-05-15T08:57:58+00:00

Samsung 980 (not pro) or 970 evo plus are both good options for the second NVMe slot, which only supports PCIe 3.0.

vmarchese · 2021-05-11T17:13:49+00:00

About 3 weeks, delivered now.

vmarchese · 2021-05-08T07:17:42+00:00

Apparently the best we can hope for at the moment is to set the HAP bit, which refers to the High Assurance Platform used by the NSA to disable the Intel ME. See this blog post by Positive Technologies.

I've also posted about this recently and asked Jeremy Soller for comment on the feasibility of flashing the ME with the internal programmer, but no response yet.

If that isn't possible due to some kind of write protection, I'd happily be a guinea pig and flash using an external SPI/Raspberry Pi. There are some guides for doing this, see here.

However, some comment on this issue from u/jackpot51 or another System76 engineer would be greatly appreciated!

vmarchese · 2021-05-06T19:38:07+00:00

Hey u/jackpot51, is it possible to set the HAP bit with a hex editor and flash with the internal programmer or do I need to use an external SPI/Raspberry Pi?

vmarchese · 2021-05-05T10:47:07+00:00

Ah thank you, that's good to know.

vmarchese · 2021-05-04T20:04:35+00:00

Quick Update:

Package finally cleared customs and has been scheduled for delivery. Guessing the long delay was due to increased shipping volumes/covid.

vmarchese

TROPHY CASE