Zcash Activates NU7 Upgrade as Private Payments Become 3x Faster
Summary
Zcash activated its NU7 mainnet upgrade at block 3,543,405, cutting target block times from 75 to 25 seconds. The change could speed confirmations and raise the estimated capacity for simple Orchard shielded transactions from about 2.9 to 6.6 per second, while limiting activity to reduce demands on light wallets. Developer tests found discarded blocks rose from 1.57% to 3.43% under demanding conditions. NU7 also directs 40% of transaction fees to miners and 60% to a reserve intended to support future rewards, with distributions expected around 2031. Disabling legacy version 4 transactions leaves roughly 12,224 ZEC in the original Sprout pool unspendable; no recovery solution was approved at activation.
