Zcash developers set early-November block for NU7 upgrade that cuts block times to 25 seconds

Developers of the privacy-focused Zcash blockchain have settled on block 3,543,405 as the activation point for a network upgrade called NU7, expected to be reached around 5 November, CoinDesk reported on Wednesday 21 October.

Zcash developer Sean Bowe filed the proposal on Tuesday after the height was agreed at a meeting of Zcash Improvement Proposal (ZIP) editors, the group that signs off on changes to the network’s rules, according to CoinDesk. As of 8:00am GMT on Wednesday the proposal had two approvals but had not yet been merged into the deployment specification, and node software must include the chosen height before the upgrade can take effect, CoinDesk reported. Because activation is tied to a block number, the exact date depends on when that block is reached.

NU7 cuts the time between blocks from 75 seconds to 25 seconds. CoinDesk reported that the change also removes 60% of the fees collected in each block from circulation, to be paid back to miners starting around February 2031, and shuts down Sprout, Zcash’s original privacy system. Coins still held in Sprout when NU7 activates will become unspendable. The upgrade has run on Zcash’s test network since early October.

Zcash’s ZEC token was at about US$1,357 as of 5:52pm GMT on Wednesday, up 11.3% over 24 hours and down 11% over 30 days, according to CoinGecko data.