Zcash is set to cut its block time from 75 seconds to 25 on Thursday in the NU7 upgrade, which also switches off old Sprout spending

Zcash's NU7 network upgrade is expected to go live on Thursday, November 5, at block 3,543,405, CoinDesk's weekly calendar says. The headline change, set out in draft ZIP 218, cuts the target time between blocks from 75 seconds to 25, so blocks arrive about three times as often. crypto.news reported that the block subsidy is reduced to match, leaving daily issuance unchanged, and that it estimated Orchard throughput would rise from about 2.9 to 6.6 transactions per second.

NU7 also deactivates version 4 transactions, which ends spending from the old Sprout pool; crypto.news said that pool held under 23,000 ZEC and under 0.1% of transaction volume when coinholders were polled. A coinholder vote backed keeping the halving schedule, and five Zcash development groups agreed that a Network Sustainability Mechanism, which removes part of transaction fees from circulation, would start returning coins in February 2031, though crypto.news noted another vote could revisit the date.

CryptoTicker said holders need take no action and that wallets are not expected to need major changes, but that full nodes, indexers and block explorers need an NU7-capable version before November 5. Exchanges often pause deposits and withdrawals for a few hours around such upgrades, it added; that is common practice, not a stated requirement.