Zcash developers have moved closer to launching NU7, a network upgrade designed to make payments three times faster, after agreeing on the specific block height for its mainnet activation.
On Tuesday, developer Sean Bowe submitted a proposal to activate the upgrade at block 3,543,405. The target was agreed upon during a meeting of Zcash Improvement Proposal (ZIP) editors, who review and approve changes to the blockchain’s protocol.
Zakura’s public upgrade dashboard now identifies block 3,543,405 as the planned activation point, with the mainnet launch expected around Nov. 5.
The NU7 update will shorten Zcash’s block interval from 75 seconds to 25 seconds, reducing the time required for transaction confirmations. For instance, an exchange that requires three confirmations before crediting a ZEC deposit could cut the waiting period from almost four minutes to roughly 75 seconds. The upgrade has been undergoing testing on Zcash’s testnet since early October.
The update will also remove 60% of the transaction fees collected in each block from circulation. Those funds are scheduled to be returned to miners beginning around February 2031, without changing Zcash’s existing mining reward halving schedule.
Another major change involves Sprout, the blockchain’s original privacy protocol, which will be permanently deactivated when NU7 goes live. Coins remaining in Sprout addresses at activation will become inaccessible, meaning holders must transfer them before the expected launch in early November.
Despite the progress, the activation process is not yet finalized. Bowe’s proposal had received two approvals but had not been merged into the deployment specification as of 08:00 UTC Wednesday. The specification still listed the mainnet activation height as undecided.
For the upgrade to proceed, developers must incorporate the agreed block height into the deployment specification and ensure it is included in node software.
