Zcash developers have finalized the timeline for NU7, the privacy network’s next major upgrade, with mainnet activation targeted for November 5 after a testnet rollout on October 6, according to a post on the Zcash Community Forum published September 17. The schedule follows the coinholder vote that backed faster blocks and the network’s existing halving schedule, and reflects unanimous agreement among the Zcash Foundation, Project Tachyon, Valar, ZODL and Shielded Labs. The upgrade will cut target block spacing from 75 seconds to 25 seconds and add a mechanism that recycles a portion of transaction fees to miners in later years.
Three-times-faster blocks
Under ZIP-218, NU7 reduces target block spacing to 25 seconds, about a third of the current 75-second interval. Because a payment receives its first confirmation when it appears in a block, exchanges and bridges that wait for a fixed number of confirmations can release funds in roughly one-third the time. Developers frame the shorter wait as a step toward making direct private payments practical at the point of sale, even if it remains slower than tapping a card. The upgrade disables the older v4 transaction format and introduces no new formats, so wallets should need only minimal changes, while full nodes, indexers and block explorers may require updates. It follows related privacy work, including Zakura Common’s effort to speed up Zcash proofs.
A fee-backed sustainability mechanism
NU7 also brings the Network Sustainability Mechanism to the mainnet. Under ZIP-235, roughly 60 percent of transaction fees would be temporarily removed from circulation rather than paid to miners, with those coins returning through block rewards starting in February 2031 as Zcash’s issuance falls through successive halvings. The coinholder vote that shaped the upgrade drew about 2.4 million ZEC, equal to 66 percent of the eligible pool, with 98.9 percent backing the halving schedule and 96.6 percent favoring February 2031 as the fee-reintroduction date.
What happens next
Code completion is due September 30, testnet activation is set for October 6, and developers will make the final mainnet decision on October 20, when they choose an activation height. November 5 remains a target rather than a confirmed launch date. The schedule formalizes the direction set by the NU7 coinholder vote, which kept Zcash’s bitcoin-style halvings and cut block times to 25 seconds.
