Zcash holders have approved a protocol change that will reduce the network’s target block time from 75 seconds to 25 seconds, while keeping its Bitcoin-style halving schedule intact. The governance vote on Network Upgrade 7 (NU7) drew nearly 2.4 million ZEC out of roughly 3.6 million eligible at the snapshot, above the one-million-ZEC threshold set for representativeness.
According to published results, more than 99% of participating ZEC supported the 25-second block target, and 98.9% backed preserving existing halving rather than switching to a gradually declining issuance curve. Because voting power was weighted by eligible ZEC holdings, larger balances carried more influence, but the encrypted ballot design kept individual balances and choices private.
The faster block interval is expected to reduce the average wait for an initial confirmation from about 75 seconds to roughly 25 seconds. Zcash’s estimated shielded-payment capacity for common two-action Orchard transactions would rise from about 2.9 transactions per second to 6.6 TPS. The change may be especially noticeable for smaller payments, exchange deposits, and some cross-chain operations, though services can still set their own confirmation requirements.
The shorter interval increases the probability of competing blocks; ZIP 218 estimates the stale-block rate could rise from around 0.4% to approximately 3.26%. To prevent excessive processing demands, it adds shielded-action limits per block and could reduce worst-case light-wallet synchronization bandwidth from about 271 MB to 169 MB per day.
Importantly, the upgrade does not accelerate ZEC issuance. The technical proposal, ZIP 218, reduces the block subsidy and extends the halving interval measured in blocks, so three smaller rewards would be issued in roughly the same period as one current larger reward. Daily ZEC creation would remain approximately unchanged, preserving the 21-million-ZEC supply cap and the halving schedule inherited from Bitcoin.
Other governance results included 96.6% support for delaying the recycling of Network Sustainability Mechanism funds until February 2031, 97.3% support for disabling version 4 Sprout transactions when NU7 activates, and 99.3% support for launching NU7 without waiting for every proposed feature. Any feature not ready by the September 30 deadline could be excluded from the upgrade. Activation heights for testnet and mainnet remain undecided, and the network will continue on its existing 75-second schedule until the final package is tested and assigned.
