A Zcash developer known as Zakura has proposed a new privacy safeguard for Zcash swaps routed through Near Intents. The proposal aims to stop future quantum computers from linking an exposed refund address to a user's broader transaction history. It introduces a "one-key-per-swap" approach for Zcash swaps.
How the one-key-per-swap model works
The core idea is simple: every swap gets its own key. Today, if a swap fails and funds need to be returned, the refund address can sit on-chain in a way that ties back to a user's other activity. Under Zakura's proposal, each swap would use a distinct key, so a refund address wouldn't serve as a thread that pulls together a user's wider transaction history. That separation matters most if quantum computers eventually become able to break the cryptography protecting today's public blockchains.
Near Intents is a cross-chain swap system, and Zcash swaps routed through it would adopt this per-swap key structure. The proposal doesn't change how Zcash works today. It's a design change aimed at a threat that doesn't exist yet.
Why quantum computers are the target
Quantum computers can't crack Zcash right now. Zakura's proposal is explicitly proactive — built around the possibility that they might one day. The concern is that an exposed refund address could become a starting point for a future quantum machine to reconstruct a user's transaction history. By giving each swap its own key, the proposal tries to remove that starting point.
The proposal is narrow in scope. It doesn't claim to solve quantum threats for Zcash as a whole, and it doesn't promise that Zcash is quantum-proof. It focuses on one specific leak: the link between a refund address and the rest of a user's activity when swaps go through Near Intents.
What happens next
Zakura's proposal is now public for the Zcash and Near communities to review. There's no timeline yet for when — or whether — it would be implemented. For now, it's a design document, not a shipped feature. The next step is discussion among developers and users who route Zcash through Near Intents. Whether the one-key-per-swap model gets adopted, revised, or set aside will depend on that feedback.
