Zcash holders overwhelmingly supported faster transactions and the halving schedule in a recent vote, with nearly 2.4 million ZEC participating.
The Zcash community has expressed strong support for faster transaction processing and the retention of the halving schedule in a recent governance vote, with nearly two-thirds of eligible ZEC tokens participating.
Approximately 2.4 million ZEC, accounting for around 66% of the eligible tokens, voted on the upcoming NU7 network upgrade. The voting system allocated one vote per ZEC held, rather than counting the number of voters.
Voting Details and Outcomes
Organizers required a minimum turnout of 1 million ZEC to validate the results. An overwhelming 99.9% of the votes favored reducing the block time from 75 seconds to 25 seconds, promising quicker transaction confirmations.
Additionally, 98.9% of participants supported maintaining the current bitcoin-style halving schedule, an essential mechanism that halves mining rewards at set intervals rather than gradually diminishing them.
Importantly, only ZEC held in Ironwood, the latest private transaction pool, was eligible for the vote. This privacy-centric approach allows verification of coin ownership without revealing wallet balances or transaction details.
The encrypted voting system, which fragmented votes into 16 pieces for anonymity, marks a significant improvement over previous polling methods, where only 7.25% of circulating ZEC voted, highlighting divisions among holders.
Furthermore, 96.6% of voters chose to delay the reissuance of funds from the Network Sustainability Mechanism until February 2031.
Impact on Zcash's Future
This strategy will effectively remove some funds from circulation, including at least 60% of transaction fees, which will be recycled through future mining rewards without impacting Zcash's overall supply.
The decision to keep the halving schedule while allowing fees to accumulate before returning them to miners demonstrates a calculated approach to the network's expansion.
Moreover, there was a strong push to expedite the NU7 upgrade, with approximately 99.3% voting for its immediate implementation, even if it required omitting some features not ready by the September 30 deadline.
Efforts to reduce block times align with initiatives aimed at significantly enhancing the speed of private ZEC transactions. Recent developments have already cut proof-generation times on mobile devices from over three seconds to under 200 milliseconds.
While the vote clarifies the path for the NU7 upgrade after earlier disagreements, the proposed features still require development and testing before integration.
This historic voting process, involving nearly 2.4 million ZEC while maintaining individual balance confidentiality, highlights the effective use of Zcash's privacy mechanisms in steering the network's future.
