Zcash Confirms November Update to Cut Block Times From 75 to 25 Seconds

Zcash is preparing for its NU7 network upgrade after developers settled on a proposed activation block for the update, which aims to make transactions three times faster on the privacy-focused blockchain.

On Tuesday, developer Sean Bowe submitted a proposal naming block 3,543,405 as the activation point. The decision followed an agreement among Zcash Improvement Proposal (ZIP) editors, who review and approve changes to the network’s protocol rules.

Zakura’s public upgrade dashboard also identifies block 3,543,405 as the planned mainnet activation height, with the rollout expected around Nov. 5.

NU7 will reduce the time between blocks from 75 seconds to 25 seconds, potentially speeding up payment confirmations. An exchange that requires three confirmations before crediting a ZEC deposit could see the waiting period fall from nearly four minutes to around 75 seconds. The upgrade has been undergoing testing on Zcash’s testnet since early October.

The update will also remove 60% of transaction fees collected in each block from circulation. The accumulated funds are expected to be distributed to miners beginning around February 2031, while the network’s existing mining reward halving schedule will remain unchanged.

Another significant change will be the shutdown of Sprout, Zcash’s original privacy system. Any coins left in Sprout addresses when NU7 activates will become permanently unspendable. Holders must transfer their funds before the expected launch in early November to avoid losing access.

However, the activation process has not been fully completed. Bowe’s proposal had received two approvals but remained unmerged into the deployment specification as of 08:00 UTC Wednesday. At that time, the specification still listed the mainnet activation height as undecided.

Developers must finalize the specification and incorporate the selected block height into node software before NU7 can officially activate.