Zcash developers have agreed on a specific block date in November for the NU7 update, which will reduce the block time from 75 seconds to 25 seconds.
The planned activation block for NU7, the next major update to the privacy-focused Zcash network, has been determined. Developers have agreed that the new rules will be implemented at block number 3,543,405. Based on the current block production rate, this level is expected to be reached around November 5th.
The most notable change in the NU7 update will be the reduction of the target time between Zcash blocks from 75 seconds to 25 seconds. If a cryptocurrency exchange is waiting three confirmations to transfer a deposited ZEC balance to an account, the current process, which takes approximately four minutes, could be reduced to around 75 seconds after the update. This shorter waiting time could make Zcash more practical, especially for payments and inter-exchange transfers.
The update will also temporarily remove 60% of transaction fees from circulation. The accumulated ZEC is planned to start being distributed to miners as an additional reward around February 2031. Although blocks will be produced three times faster, the aim is to maintain Zcash’s current supply and halving schedule, as the reward per block will be adjusted accordingly.
With NU7, Zcash’s original privacy system, Sprout, will be completely disabled. ZEC remaining on Sprout addresses may become unusable after the update. Therefore, those using the old system need to migrate their assets to the new supported addresses before the activation date.
However, the date is not yet definitively confirmed. The chosen block height needs to be added to the deployment specification and incorporated into the node software. The update has been running on the testnet since early October, but the completion of technical integration is awaited before mainnet activation.
*This is not investment advice.
