Zcash developers have agreed on block 3,543,405 as the activation point for Network Upgrade 7 (NU7), which brings 25-second blocks around November 5. The upgrade also adds a fee mechanism and makes funds left in the legacy Sprout pool unspendable. The proposal still needs final integration into the deployment specification.
Zcash developers have agreed on block 3,543,405 as the planned activation point for NU7, moving the privacy-focused blockchain closer to 25-second blocks around November 5. The height replaces the provisional November 5 timetable with a block-based target.
According to an October 20 GitHub proposal, submitted by developer Sean Bowe, editors of the Zcash Improvement Proposal (ZIP) process agreed on the height at a meeting. Developers ValarDragon and str4d approved it on October 20, but the pull request was still open during the October 21 review.
NU7 cuts Zcash block times from 75 seconds to 25 seconds
Under ZIP 218, Zcash will reduce its target block spacing by two-thirds, so a new block arrives approximately every 25 seconds instead of 75 seconds. That triples the expected frequency of block production.
For example, three confirmations would take approximately 75 seconds under the new target, compared with 225 seconds under the existing schedule. Actual times can vary because block production is not perfectly uniform.
The planned changes retain the existing supply cap and preserve the mining reward halving schedule.
Fee mechanism and Sprout shutdown
NU7 will introduce the Network Sustainability Mechanism, which temporarily removes 60% of transaction fees collected in each block from circulation. Those funds build up in a publicly tracked balance before miners gradually receive them again. Developers selected February 2031 as the approximate start of reissuance, assigned to block 8,939,664.
The upgrade also disables version 4 transactions, which are required to spend funds held in the Sprout pool. Coins still in Sprout at activation will become unspendable, so holders must move them into a supported pool beforehand.
Node operators face a deadline as well. The deployment specification permits operators running unsupported software to stay connected at activation, potentially following an incompatible pre-NU7 chain, so they must upgrade before the network reaches the selected block.
Source: crypto.news
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