Shielded Labs, the independent core development team led by Zcash (ZEC) founder Zooko, announced on the X platform that it has received a donation from Vitalik Buterin, though the specific amount was not disclosed. The funds will support the development of Crosslink, which enhances Zcash's existing Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus mechanism by adding a parallel finality layer, thus preventing chain reorganization and rollback attacks. Currently, Shielded Labs' funding comes from donations from Zcash holders and supporters, operating independently of the developer fund and block rewards. This is Vitalik's second donation to Shielded Labs; his first donation was in 2023 to support the formation of a dedicated team focused on Crosslink.