Zcash NU7 Upgrade Goes Live on Testnet Ahead of November Rollout
Zcash has taken a significant step forward with the activation of its NU7 upgrade on the public testnet. The upgrade went live at block 4,465,026 on October 4, a day earlier than initially planned. This move is part of the preparation for a November 5 mainnet rollout, pending a review on October 20. The NU7 upgrade aims to enhance the network by reducing the target block time from 75 seconds to 25 seconds, which should speed up transaction confirmations while maintaining the daily issuance of ZEC and the 21 million supply cap.
One of the key features of the NU7 upgrade is the introduction of the Network Sustainability Mechanism (NSM). This mechanism allocates 60% of transaction fees to a reserve and 40% to miners. The reserve can later be reissued as block rewards, ensuring the sustainability of the network. Additionally, the upgrade sets limits on shielded transactions to manage network and wallet workloads, with a shared budget of 330 actions for Orchard or Ironwood and 300 inputs/outputs for Sapling transactions.
Another important change is the invalidation of version 4 transactions, which could affect users still holding ZEC in the Sprout privacy system. These funds will become unspendable unless moved before the mainnet activation. The upgrade also maintains the validity of version 5 and version 6 transactions.
Despite the positive developments, the market reaction to the NU7 activation has been modestly positive. ZEC is trading around $1,335, up 2.9% over 24 hours, with a market cap of approximately $22.48 billion. However, the price is still down about 15.6% over the past seven days. Near-term resistance levels are identified at $1,350-1,462, with support at $1,284.