At 9:34 p.m. ET Thursday (02:34 UTC Friday), NU7 became active on Zcash at block 3,543,405, bringing a 25-second block target and preventing further spending from the Sprout pool. The ZecStats tracker recorded the activation, and Zcash’s official account announced the upgrade was live Friday.
NU7 changes the target gap between blocks from 75 seconds to 25 seconds. The Zcash Foundation estimates the faster cadence should bring the average wait for a first confirmation to roughly one-third of its former length, although individual waits will vary. The upgrade adjusts per-block rewards and halving intervals to keep daily ZEC issuance unchanged.
The rules direct 60% of transaction fees out of circulation for the Network Sustainability Mechanism; miners retain 40%. The Foundation schedules reserve-backed block rewards to begin at block 8,939,664. The reserve is intended to support future rewards as block subsidies shrink, while Zcash’s supply cap remains 21 million ZEC.
NU7 also invalidates version 4 transactions, which are needed to spend funds in Zcash’s legacy Sprout pool. ZecStats measured 12,224.21 ZEC in the pool at activation. ZIP 2003 says the funds’ loss of spendability does not take them out of Zcash’s issued supply.
CoinGape reported ZEC at $1,276.66 after a 3.48% 24-hour decline in its Friday report. The outlet’s chart analysis treated a close above $1,300 as a prerequisite for a possible move back to $1,350; the protocol change itself does not establish that scenario.
EconoTimes previously reported a 12.4% gain in a Nov. 4 snapshot as NU7 neared activation. The earlier gain and CoinGape’s reported decline cover different market snapshots and do not show that NU7 caused either price move.
