Zcash
Zcash developers are targeting Nov. 5 for activation of the NU7 upgrade on the mainnet after organizations and engineering teams reached unanimous agreement on its contents and estimated timeline.
The upgrade is scheduled to activate on the testnet on Oct. 6, with a final decision on the mainnet activation and block height set for Oct. 20 following an assessment of testnet performance.
NU7 would reduce Zcash’s target block spacing from 75 seconds to 25 seconds, effectively tripling the frequency of targeted block production. The upgrade would also disable version 4 transactions and integrate the Network Sustainability Mechanism (NSM). Its selected configuration would preserve Zcash’s halving schedule, with the reintroduction of previously removed supply beginning in February 2031.
According to developer Sean Bowe, NU7 will not introduce new transaction formats and should not significantly affect wallets, although full nodes, indexers and block explorers may require adjustments.
The proposed changes have also received strong support from ZEC holders. A ZEC-weighted vote showed 99.9% support for the faster-block proposal, while 98.9% supported preserving the halving schedule.
The upgrade timeline comes as ZEC has recently seen a sharp price increase. ZEC rose about 20% over 24 hours on Thursday as privacy coins outperformed the broader market. Glassnode data cited in the source showed the privacy-coin sector 213% above its level at Bitcoin’s October 2025 peak, while a basket excluding ZEC was up about 85% over the past year.
The immediate focus now shifts to the Oct. 6 testnet activation and its performance. That assessment will help determine whether the proposed Nov. 5 mainnet timeline and activation parameters move forward as planned.
