Zano is preparing a major infrastructure upgrade that would allow its native asset, ZANO, to move across EVM networks, TON, and Solana through a trustless, non-custodial bridging system tied to Hard Fork 6, which is currently targeted for Q2 2026. The plan marks a significant shift from the project’s current wrapped-token setup and is designed to remove the centralized custody assumptions that typically come with cross-chain transfers.
At present, Zano already has a wrapped representation on Ethereum called wZANO, an ERC-20 token managed through infrastructure operated by the core team. That arrangement gives users access to external ecosystems, but it also creates a familiar weakness: a centralized bridge introduces a single point of failure and requires users to trust a custodian with their assets. Hard Fork 6 is intended to replace that model with a protocol-led mechanism in which assets are locked and released through cryptographic coordination rather than direct control by a single operator.
Gateway Addresses and a New Bridging Model
The central technical change is the introduction of a new address type called Gateway Addresses. Unlike Zano’s standard UTXO-style structure, these addresses use an account-based model built for programmable, large-scale interoperability. Under the proposed flow, a user who wants to bridge native ZANO through the protocol known as Bridgeless sends coins into a Gateway Address on the Zano side. Those native assets are then locked by the protocol, and an equivalent amount of wZANO is minted on the destination chain and delivered to the user’s wallet.
When the user moves back in the opposite direction, the wrapped tokens are burned on the external chain and the original native ZANO is unlocked on Zano. According to the project, all circulating wrapped supply will be backed 1:1 by native ZANO locked in the bridge mechanism. The key distinction, however, is that the protocol is meant to hold the funds rather than any one validator, team member, or centralized bridge operator.
Threshold Signatures Replace Single-Party Control
Zano says the bridge is secured through threshold signatures, meaning no single validator ever holds complete authority to approve a transfer. Instead, a cryptographic threshold of validators must cooperate to sign cross-chain operations. This approach is intended to eliminate the classic custodial bridge problem, where a single compromised key, server, or administrative actor can put user funds at risk.
The broader Bridgeless system is described as running on a decentralized validator network using Delegated Proof of Stake. On destination networks such as EVM chains, TON, and Solana, deposits and withdrawals are handled by smart contracts rather than a centralized backend. That architecture is designed to reduce reliance on a single operator and make cross-chain movement more resilient and credibly neutral.
Zano framed the launch as more than a narrow product update, saying that for the first time, native ZANO and confidential assets supported by Bridgeless, including examples such as Freedom Dollar, would be bridgeable to external ecosystems through a mechanism built without the old custodial compromises. In practical terms, that could allow privacy-oriented native assets to interact with broader crypto liquidity and application layers while preserving a non-custodial design on the bridge itself.
Privacy on Zano, Transparency on Public Chains
Even so, the design comes with an important tradeoff. Zano notes that Gateway Addresses are transparent by design. The amounts passing through them can be observed on-chain. That said, the identity of the sender can still be shielded through Zano’s existing privacy stack, including stealth addresses and ring signatures, which make it harder for outside observers to map a transaction back to a specific participant or determine which output was spent.
That privacy guarantee does not carry over once assets move onto a public chain. On Ethereum, Solana, or TON, a user’s wZANO balance is visible like any other standard token position. In other words, the bridge can move value out of Zano’s native privacy-preserving environment, but once that value exists as a wrapped asset on a transparent network, it takes on the visibility rules of that destination chain. Privacy protections are restored only when the user bridges back into native ZANO.
This distinction matters because it clarifies that the bridge is not offering privacy preservation across all chains in the same way native Zano transactions do. Instead, it offers a compliant and technically interoperable wrapper format outside the Zano chain while preserving access back to the project’s full privacy model for users who return.
Exchange Access and DeFi Liquidity Could Expand
The infrastructure may also change how ZANO reaches exchanges and decentralized markets. According to the project, native ZANO has faced resistance from some larger trading venues because of its default transaction privacy features. A transparent wrapped token such as wZANO, however, does not present the same compliance profile, which could make it more viable for listings on major centralized platforms.
Zano explicitly positioned the upgrade as infrastructure that could open the door to both top-tier exchanges and DeFi liquidity pools for the first time. As a standard ERC-20 asset, wZANO can theoretically be used in lending markets, yield strategies, and liquidity provision. The team suggested that a wZANO pool on Uniswap could eventually replace the current custodial setup with a non-custodial equivalent once the new system is fully live.
Another part of the rollout involves Base. Zano said the deployment of wZANO on Base is part of its strategy because assets in the Base ecosystem can be purchased with fiat through the Coinbase app. That creates a more direct user on-ramp: someone could buy wZANO with a bank card, withdraw it to a wallet, and then bridge it into native ZANO in only a few steps, without first needing to use a niche exchange that directly supports the privacy coin.
Still in Alpha, but Testnet Is Already Running
For now, the project emphasized that Bridgeless is still in alpha as a proof of concept. Its native token, BRIDGE, has not yet been listed. That makes the current stage experimental rather than production mature, and users should view the roadmap in that context. Still, Zano says that the Gateway Addresses testnet is already live, indicating that the components behind the upcoming Hard Fork 6 are moving beyond theory and into active testing.
If the rollout stays on schedule, the Q2 2026 upgrade would give Zano a new way to position itself between two often competing priorities in crypto: privacy and interoperability. On one side, the chain keeps its native privacy-preserving transaction model. On the other, wrapped assets could travel to transparent, high-liquidity environments where users can access exchanges, DeFi applications, and mainstream on-ramps. Whether that balance proves technically secure and attractive to users will depend on execution, but the proposal clearly represents one of the project’s most consequential planned upgrades to date.