Crypto: Zcash Aims to Increase Private Payment Speed by Three Times

Zcash has set November 5 as the target date for NU7, its next network update. The crypto project must reduce the block time from 75 to 25 seconds. All while laying the foundations for a new mechanism to redistribute transaction fees to miners starting in 2031.

Three Times Faster, Zcash’s Promise for November 

November 5, 2026, is a date to remember. That is the date Zcash aims to activate NU7, its seventh major update of its crypto network. The goal is summed up in one sentence: to divide the time between two blocks by three, reducing it from 75 to 25 seconds. Concretely, a payment confirmation that previously took more than a minute could now take about twenty seconds. Not comparable to a credit card payment at the counter, but enough to make a private blockchain payment significantly more practical.

The schedule for all this is tight and already written down. Notably, the code must be ready by September 30, the testnet by October 6, and a final decision on the activation height on mainnet by October 20. So November 5 is for now just a target. Especially since producing three times more blocks does not mean issuing three times more ZEC. No. The block reward will also be divided by three, and the crypto halving interval extended from 1.68 million to 5.04 million blocks. So the total issuance over time remains theoretically almost unchanged.

Zcash and the Validated Crypto Fee Redistribution Mechanism 

NU7 also includes the Network Sustainability Mechanism, or NSM for insiders. The principle is that about 60% of transaction fees will be temporarily withheld, rather than being directly paid to crypto miners. These funds do not disappear, as they are supposed to gradually return to the block rewards starting from February 2031. This is to compensate for the mechanical decline in issuance over halvings. About 2.4 million ZEC participated in the community vote, representing 66% of the eligible pool and here is the result:

• 98.9% of voters supported maintaining the existing halving schedule;
• 96.6% approved February 2031 as the start point for fee reintroduction. 

Zcash Foundation, Project Tachyon, Valar, ZODL, and Shielded Labs are all aligned on this matter. It is rare to see a crypto ecosystem agree so widely without any fork wars behind the scenes.

Crypto: Grayscale’s Zcash ETF Sparks Panic 

While developers refine their code, Wall Street is already playing with ZEC. Grayscale’s Zcash ETF, listed under the ticker ZCSH on NYSE Arca since just August 25, will undergo a 3-for-1 stock split effective after September 28. One share will become three; the total value does not change, but the unit price mechanically decreases, making the product more accessible to smaller crypto portfolios.

The Zcash ETF has already attracted over $233 million in net inflows since its launch, including $46.6 million in just one session. Enough to make Crypto Banter right, which sees it as a case study. A product that rises too fast in the stock market ends up splitting to remain accessible, while underlying demand continues to push the fund to buy more ZEC on the market. NU7 has nothing directly to do with this stock market mechanism, but the alignment of the two schedules certainly does not help to ease the pressure on the token.

What to Remember about Zcash’s NU7 Update?

• NU7 targets November 5 to triple Zcash’s block time speed (75 to 25 seconds), with a testnet on October 6.
• The new NSM mechanism will withhold 60% of transaction fees before reinjecting them to miners starting February 2031, approved by 96.6% of voters.
• ZEC’s total issuance remains broadly stable despite accelerated block production, thanks to a reward per block divided by three.
• Meanwhile, Grayscale’s Zcash ETF is already undergoing a 3-for-1 split after more than $233 million in inflows in less than a month.

Zcash’s technical update is not yet live on mainnet but the crypto market has already anticipated it. It remains to be seen if this NU7 will meet its tight schedule, and if the appetite for the Zcash ETF will follow the same pace by November 2026.