On February 7, ZEN will implement a network scaling operation involving the mainnet and a hard fork. Subsequently, the shielded pool will be rendered completely inactive. It is recommended that all funds be transferred from the shielded pool prior to that time.
The loss of shielded ZEN will result if one is unable to remove the shielded ZEN from shielded addresses prior to the hard fork. The hard fork, however, won’t have an impact on the transparent ZEN; only the shielded ZEN.
This took place after the passing of ZenIP 42207 towards the beginning of 2024. It brought about the total withdrawal of the shielded pool from the Horizen mainchain. As a result, ZenIP 42204 undervalued connectivity with the shielded pool, which responds to the constantly shifting regulation landscape for privacy tokens. The result is that it will disable private transactions on Horizen and provide connectivity with private addresses.
With effect from February 7, 2024, this will result in the complete elimination of all private payment capabilities offered by Horizen. Its capacity to send and receive private payments in Horizen will be lost. With the support of Horizen, however, it will cease to be a privacy cryptocurrency and can be utilized for standard public transactions like Bitcoin.
Reiterating the recommendation, it is mandatory for all users who have funds in private addresses to transfer those funds to their own transparent addresses by February 7, 2024, using zen-cli or Sphere by Horizen. Users will be unable to transfer funds from the shielded pool to another address after the specified date. Transferring funds directly to exchange deposit addresses without shielding is not advised.
Source: https://www.cryptonewsz.com/shielded-pool-to-be-deactivated-on-the-horizen-mainchain/