Zcash Plans November Update to Enhance Private Payment Speed

Tech Zcash Plans November Update to Enhance Private Payment Speed

The NU7 upgrade aims to reduce block times to 25 seconds and allocate over 60% of transaction fees to bolster mining rewards starting in 2031.

By Shaurya Malwa | Edited by Jamie Crawley 11 min ago 2 min read Make preferred on

Developers of Zcash have set their sights on November 5 for the NU7 upgrade, which will accelerate the time between blocks from 75 seconds to just 25 seconds, thereby enhancing the speed of private transactions.

This upgrade will also initiate the process of temporarily reallocating approximately 60% of transaction fees away from immediate circulation, with plans for these funds to return as rewards for miners starting in February 2031. Zcash's existing issuance and halving schedule will remain intact, though the reward for each block will be reduced and the halving interval will be extended from 1.68 million blocks to 5.04 million.

The decision to proceed with the NU7 upgrade came after extensive discussions among the core development teams, including the Zcash Foundation, Project Tachyon, Valar, ZODL, and Shielded Labs. The consensus on the upgrade's specifics followed several community and coinholder polls.

Out of approximately 2.4 million ZEC votes, which represented 66% of the eligible voter base, an overwhelming 98.9% supported maintaining Zcash's current halving schedule, while 96.6% favored February 2031 as the date for returning the accumulated fees to miners.

The vision behind Zcash and similar payment-focused projects is to facilitate transactions directly from individuals' wallets to merchants or other users via blockchain technology, eliminating the need for banks or card networks like Visa and Mastercard. This model empowers users to manage and spend their digital funds directly from their devices, transcending geographical boundaries without traditional banking intermediaries.

However, public blockchains pose privacy challenges, as transactions from visible addresses can reveal account balances, transaction histories, and links to other addresses. Zcash's shielded payment feature conceals the sender, recipient, and transaction amount from public view, enabling consumers to transact without exposing sensitive financial information.

Understanding Zcash Block Times

Blocks represent groups of transactions that miners add to the blockchain, and a payment is confirmed when it is included in a block. Reducing Zcash's block time means that exchanges or bridges requiring a fixed number of confirmations can process ZEC transactions in about a third of the previous duration.

While this would still be slower than a card tap at a retail location, the reduced wait time makes private payments more feasible, according to Zcash developers.

It's important to note that generating three times as many blocks will not result in three times the amount of ZEC; the proposal suggests that the reward for each block will be divided by three, preserving the overall issuance over time.

Additionally, the NU7 upgrade will introduce Zcash's Network Sustainability Mechanism, where about 60% of transaction fees will be temporarily withheld from miners under ZIP-235. These funds are earmarked to return through block rewards starting in February 2031, thereby supplementing miner income as Zcash's regular issuance diminishes due to halving events.

The upgrade will phase out the older transaction format while not introducing new ones, and significant changes to wallets are not anticipated. However, full nodes, indexers, and block explorers may require updates.

Developers aim to complete the coding by September 30, with NU7 expected to launch on Zcash's test network on October 6. The final decision regarding the mainnet activation and specific height will be made on October 20, making November 5 a target date rather than a set launch date.

Read More: Zcash holders overwhelmingly support faster transactions and Bitcoin-style halvings

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