Zcash (ZEC) Developers Set NU7 Activation to Cut Block Time to 25 Seconds
Key Takeaways
- •Zcash's NU7 upgrade will reduce the network's block time to 25 seconds, roughly one-third of the current 75-second interval.
- •Transfers requiring multiple confirmations could see waiting periods fall from about four minutes to around 75 seconds under the new block time.
- •Daily block production is expected to increase from approximately 1,152 blocks to about 3,456 blocks once NU7 is active.
- •The Blossom upgrade in September 2019 previously halved Zcash's block interval from 150 seconds to 75 seconds.
- •NU7 will activate at a predetermined block height rather than a calendar date, requiring readiness from wallet providers, node operators, and miners.
Zcash (ZEC) transfers that today keep depositors waiting close to four minutes could clear in about 75 seconds once the network's next upgrade goes live.
Developers working on the privacy-focused chain have agreed on the activation point for NU7, the protocol's forthcoming network upgrade. Under the plan, Zcash's block time is set to fall to 25 seconds — the interval at which new blocks of confirmed transactions are added to the blockchain. COINOTAG reported the development on October 26, 2026. The interval is more than a technical parameter: services that accept deposits commonly credit them only after a transaction has been confirmed in several consecutive blocks, so a shorter block time directly compresses the waiting period for any transfer that needs more than one confirmation.
Zcash launched in October 2016 as a privacy-oriented, proof-of-work cryptocurrency. It uses zero-knowledge proofs known as zk-SNARKs to enable shielded transactions in which the sender, recipient, and amount can be concealed. The protocol has historically been improved through a series of scheduled, numbered network upgrades — NU1 through NU6 to date — each requiring coordination among developers, wallet providers, node operators, and miners before activating at a predetermined block height.
An earlier upgrade, Blossom, activated in September 2019 and halved Zcash's target block interval from 150 seconds to 75 seconds. A 25-second target under NU7 would reduce the interval to roughly one-third of the current setting — about 3,456 new blocks per day versus roughly 1,152 today — meaning each confirmation would reach the chain sooner and transfers that require multiple confirmations would complete in a shorter window.
Because NU7, like every numbered upgrade before it, takes effect at a predetermined block height rather than a calendar date, the practical checkpoint between now and go-live is that same coordination process the protocol has always relied on: wallet providers, node operators, and miners each being ready before the network reaches the agreed point.
Further details of the NU7 activation plan are available in the original report.
This content was first published on COINOTAG: https://en.coinotag.com/zcash-zec-nu7-cut-block-time-25-seconds
