Zcash’s NU7 upgrade went live at block 3,543,405, activating a mechanism that removes 60% of transaction fees from circulation for later block rewards. Reissuance is set to begin in 2031 alongside the existing halving schedule, while preserving the 21 million ZEC supply cap.
NU7 also cut the target time between blocks from 75 to 25 seconds and retired the Sprout privacy pool, leaving coins worth about $16 million locked there. In a stress test, developers measured a higher orphan-block rate at 25-second blocks than at 75 seconds; their expectation that the live rate will stay under 1% is a forecast, not a measured result. Separately, a proposal under consideration would require Zcash Community Grants to contribute 50,000 ZEC to the mechanism. Coinholders and community panels are scheduled to vote from November 16 to November 30 on the grants program’s share of the Dev Fund; a further upgrade would follow only if rough consensus emerges.
