Zcash Activates Network Upgrade NU7: What Does It Mean for ZEC Price?

On November 6, 2026, the Zcash blockchain activated the NU7 network upgrade at block height 3,543,405, around 02:34 UTC. The main change was the reduction of the target interval between blocks from 75 to 25 seconds, which is expected to speed up transaction confirmations.

The new rules also affected fee distribution, the processing of shielded transfers, and support for legacy transaction formats.

Reducing the interval allows the network to create approximately three times more blocks in the same amount of time. However, the actual speed depends on mining difficulty, which continued to adjust after the upgrade was activated.

In the first few hours, the average interval was about 39 seconds, gradually approaching the new target value.

The upgrade also increases the estimated throughput of Orchard shielded transfers. According to the technical specification ZIP 218, the rate for standard operations could rise from approximately 2.9 to 6.6 transactions per second.

At the same time, NU7 introduces limits on the number of shielded operations per block. These are intended to reduce the load on wallets during synchronization and protect against abuse of network resources.

According to developers' calculations, the maximum daily data volume for synchronizing light wallets in the considered scenario is reduced from approximately 271 to 169 MB.

How NU7 changes miner fees and rewards

The update implements the Network Sustainability Mechanism (NSM), designed for the temporary removal of part of the transaction fees from circulation.

Under the new rules, miners receive 40% of the fees for processed transactions, while the remaining 60% is directed to the NSM reserve.

These funds are not burned. Starting approximately in February 2031, they are expected to gradually return to circulation as additional block rewards.

Meanwhile, the maximum supply of Zcash remains capped at 21 million ZEC.

To ensure that the reduction in the interval between blocks does not increase the daily issuance volume, the base block reward size was reduced threefold—from 1.5625 to approximately 0.520833 ZEC.

Thus, a higher block creation frequency does not mean a threefold increase in the number of coins issued.

Why 12,224 ZEC became inaccessible

Another change in NU7 was the discontinuation of support for version 4 transactions used in the original Zcash shielded pool—Sprout.

After the upgrade activation, the network no longer accepts such transactions. As a result, about 12,224 ZEC remaining in Sprout cannot be transferred under the current consensus rules.

At a price of about $1,250 per token, the value of these funds was approximately $15.3 million.

However, the coins were not burned and continue to be counted in the Zcash supply. Their inaccessibility is due to the discontinuation of support for the outdated transaction format.

The technical specification allows for the possibility of restoring access through a future protocol update, but such a mechanism has not yet been adopted. Developers warn that the funds may remain inaccessible indefinitely.

Node operators must use software versions compatible with NU7, including Zebra 7.0.0 or later supported implementations.

Following the activation of the upgrade, ZEC continued to decline along with the cryptocurrency market. In the morning trading on November 6, the token was around $1,250, having lost nearly 6% over the previous day according to the initial market publication.

However, no link has been established between the launch of NU7 and the price decline. Further evaluation of the upgrade will depend on the actual transaction confirmation speed, wallet performance, and network stability after transitioning to the new rules.