Zcash Targets Nov. 5 for NU7 Upgrade That Cuts Block Times to 25 Seconds

Zcash (ZEC) will activate its NU7 network upgrade at block 3,543,405 on mainnet, a height developers expect to reach around November 5, 2026. The upgrade cuts target block spacing from 75 seconds to 25 seconds and disables legacy version 4 transactions. Developers locked the mainnet activation height on October 20 after reviewing testnet performance.

NU7 is the ninth major network upgrade for the largest privacy coin by market capitalisation. The Zcash Foundation, Electric Coin Co., Project Tachyon, Valar Group, ZODL and Shielded Labs agreed on the package and timetable in September, according to the NU7 timeline on the Zcash community forum.

Faster Blocks for Payments and Exchange Deposits

Under draft ZIP 218, Zcash targets a new block every 25 seconds instead of 75, so a first confirmation arrives in about a third of the time. Developers present the change as useful for payments, exchange deposits and cross-chain operations that wait on confirmations.

Daily ZEC issuance stays the same: the subsidy paid per block drops to offset the faster schedule. The draft estimates Orchard shielded throughput roughly doubles, from about 2.9 to 6.6 transactions per second for two-action transactions, with a cap of 330 actions per block across all pools.

Legacy Sprout Transactions Stop at Activation

NU7 disables version 4 transactions at activation, which stops further spending from legacy Sprout funds. The upgrade introduces no new transaction format, and wallets are not expected to need major changes. Full nodes, indexers and block explorers may need adjustments for the new consensus rules.

Node operators must also move off zcashd, which is being deprecated and will not support NU7's expected consensus changes. The upgrade requires the Zebra consensus node written in Rust and developed by the Zcash Foundation.

Coinholder Votes Set the Issuance Path

Coinholder polls this month shaped the schedule. Participants representing about 2.4 million ZEC voted roughly 98.9% in favour of keeping the existing halving schedule over a smooth issuance curve, and 96.6% backed starting Network Sustainability Mechanism reissuance in February 2031.

The upgrade activated on testnet on October 6, where 25-second blocks went live ahead of schedule. NU7 is a major milestone for the network and a test of the faster block cadence that the Zcash price chart may reflect as the activation height approaches.