Zcash NU7 Upgrade Targets November 5 With Block Time Reduction

Zcash is gearing up for its NU7 upgrade on November 5, which aims to improve private payments and restructure miner revenues. The development team plans to reduce the target block time from 75 seconds to 25 seconds, allowing exchanges and bridges to release ZEC transactions in about one-third of the current time.

This change could make direct private payments more practical for users, although it may not offer an experience faster than instant card payments. The upgrade will also see approximately 60 percent of transaction fees temporarily removed from circulation, with a mechanism introduced via ZIP-235 to return these set-aside fees to miners through block rewards starting in February 2031.

The Zcash community played a significant role in determining the content of the upgrade, with around 2.4 million ZEC participating in the voting process, representing 66 percent of the eligible pool. The code is scheduled to be completed on September 30, and the upgrade will move to the testnet on October 6, with the final decision for the mainnet to be made on October 20.