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Zcash (ZEC) is preparing for a radical acceleration, as the long-awaited Network Upgrade 7 (NU7) has been launched on testnet. The main feature of the upgrade is a threefold reduction in block generation time, from 75 to 25 seconds, along with a twofold increase in network throughput.
The news has already sparked discussion across the crypto community. Well-known privacy coin supporter and Helius CEO Mert Mumtaz briefly commented on the event by saying that Zcash will become significantly faster.
However, behind the loud slogans lies a deep restructuring of the network aimed at solving long-standing problems with speed and miner revenues.
What should be known about the NU7 upgrade
Here are the three key improvements NU7 brings to Zcash:
- 3x acceleration: The time required to create a new block is being reduced from 75 to 25 seconds. This means transactions will be confirmed three times faster. To prevent the network from being overwhelmed by orphan blocks due to higher speed, peer synchronization algorithms have been optimized.
- Protection of miner revenues: The Network Sustainability Mechanism, or NSM, is being introduced. Since miners now receive fewer coins after previous halvings, NU7 creates a special fund: part of transaction fees will no longer be burned, but accumulated for long-term support of miners.
- Blocking spammers: Previously, spammers could clog the network with huge transactions containing up to 1,100 addresses inside, while paying a tiny base fee. Now, the fee is calculated strictly for each "logical action," meaning every input and output of a transfer. A regular transaction will remain cheap, while an attempt by a spammer to create a giant transfer to overload the network will automatically increase costs by hundreds of times.
Interestingly, the new v6 transaction format was excluded from the release due to complex code changes that threatened network stability and broke compatibility with Ledger and Keystone hardware wallets.
This temporary setback postpones the highly anticipated launch of Zcash Shielded Assets (ZSAs) - a technology designed to turn the network into a multi-asset platform for issuing and swapping private stablecoins or custom tokens.
ZEC price still stuck below $700
The market met the tough technical changes with absolute coldness and, as of writing, ZEC is trading near $633.35, down 4.68% over the past 24 hours. It seems like the investors are in no hurry to price in NU7's success until the upgrade proves its stability on testnet, receives an official mainnet launch date, and produces a natural economic effect on Zcash adoption.
Dan Burgin
