Zcash Sets Nov. 5 Target for Faster Blocks and New Miner Funding

WASHINGTON — Zcash developers and key ecosystem organizations have agreed on the scope and deployment timeline for Network Upgrade 7 (NU7), with Nov. 5 set as the target date for mainnet activation. The agreement was reached unanimously by five independent development entities: the Zcash Foundation, Project Tachyon, Valar Group, ZODL, and Shielded Labs.

NU7 will reduce the targeted interval between block confirmations from 75 seconds to 25 seconds. The change is intended to accelerate confirmation speeds for shielded transactions and bring payment settlement closer to conventional point-of-sale processing speeds.

Zcash previously reduced its target block interval from 150 seconds to 75 seconds through the Blossom upgrade in December 2019. Under NU7, the network will generate three times as many blocks per day, while the reward distributed per individual block will be reduced by roughly two-thirds, dividing the payout per block by approximately three.

That change is implemented through Zcash Improvement Proposal (ZIP) 218. Because block production will increase threefold, total issuance over real-time clock intervals will remain unchanged. The arrangement also preserves Zcash’s fixed lifetime supply limit and its hard cap of 21 million total ZEC.

The hard cap remains in place after coinholders voted overwhelmingly to retain the network’s programmatic halving schedule. The Bitcoin-style schedule reduces base mining rewards by half approximately every four years. The governance referendum drew participation from 66% of the eligible coin pool, representing 2.4 million ZEC, and 98.9% of participating votes supported keeping the original supply schedule intact.

NU7 also introduces the Network Sustainability Mechanism (NSM) to address future revenue shortfalls for miners as base emission declines toward zero. Starting in 2026, approximately 60% of all network transaction fees will be diverted into a dedicated on-chain reserve rather than being burned or immediately distributed.

The accumulated fee reserves are scheduled to begin disbursing to miners as supplemental payouts in February 2031. Development teams described that timing as a conservative interpretation of the coinholder vote.

The upgrade’s software specifications are scheduled for completion by Sept. 30, according to developer Sean Bowe. NU7 is expected to deploy on the Zcash testnet on Oct. 6, creating a two-week period for engineers to monitor system operations under the altered block parameters. After the testnet analysis, project maintainers intend to establish the definitive mainnet activation block height on Oct. 20.

The five-organization agreement follows a decentralized engineering model that divides core protocol development across multiple organizations instead of relying solely on the Electric Coin Company (ECC), which led Zcash’s launch in 2016.

Zcash uses zero-knowledge cryptography, specifically Zero-Knowledge Succinct Non-Interactive Arguments of Knowledge (zk-SNARKs). The technology allows network nodes to validate financial transactions without revealing the sender’s or recipient’s address, or the transaction amount, within shielded balance pools such as Sapling and Orchard.

The NU7 alignment follows the July deployment of the Ironwood upgrade, which eliminated a four-year-old vulnerability that could have allowed malicious actors to mint unauthorized, counterfeit ZEC. Discovery of the vulnerability initially contributed to a 38% decline in the token’s market price.

After the Ironwood fix was deployed, ZEC recorded a sustained price recovery and appreciated by more than 2,500% over the trailing 12-month period. Market interest was also bolstered by digital asset manager Grayscale’s launch of a spot exchange-traded fund (ETF), allowing conventional institutional and retail investors to gain price exposure to ZEC through regulated stock exchanges without directly managing private cryptographic keys.

Zcash completed its first supply halving in November 2020 at block height 1,046,400. Its second halving followed in November 2024. Developers noted that NU7 will not require operational changes from typical ZEC holders or wallet applications because activation introduces no new transaction formats or end-user interface requirements.