Zcash activates NU7 upgrade with faster blocks and lighter private payments
The network's latest hard fork shortens the target block interval to 25 seconds and trims the wallet work needed to detect shielded payments.
Zcash has activated its NU7 network upgrade, a change that alters how quickly the chain produces blocks and how much effort wallets expend on finding shielded transactions, according to CoinDesk.
What the upgrade changes
- The target time between blocks drops to 25 seconds, speeding up confirmation of private payments.
- Wallets face less work when scanning the chain to locate shielded transactions.
- A portion of fees is set aside for future miners.
The wallet-side change matters for usability: detecting incoming private payments has historically required scanning encrypted chain data, which can be resource-intensive for lightweight clients. Reducing that burden is aimed at making shielded transfers more practical in day-to-day use.
The fee allocation for future miners addresses the long-term security budget question that faces many proof-of-work chains as issuance declines over time.
Zcash is among the longest-running privacy-focused networks, relying on zero-knowledge proofs to let users transact without exposing sender, recipient or amount. Network upgrades of this kind require coordination across node operators, wallets and exchanges that support the asset.