💡 Fact of the Week
Did you know that NU7 more than doubles Zcash’s theoretical shielded transaction capacity?
With the upgrade, throughput increases from approximately 2.9 to 6.6 transactions per second for standard Orchard-protocol transactions, including those using Ironwood. NU7 also introduces new limits that reduce worst-case bandwidth requirements for light wallet synchronization by approximately 37%.
📩 In today’s edition
⚡ NU7 Activates, Bringing 25-Second Blocks
🦓 Zebra Ándale Improves Mining Performance
🔐 Zodl Adds NU7 Support and View-Only Wallets
🎂 Zcash Celebrates 10 Years at Zcon7
🔒 New Research Explores Shielded Conditional Locks
🏛️ Zcash Development Funding Debate Advances
💰 Q4 Retroactive Grants Open for Applications
🌍 Zcash Labs Reports Wallet Adoption Results
Zcash Network Upgrade 7 (NU7) successfully activated today at 02:34 UTC, at block height 3,543,405, marking a major milestone for the network. The upgrade reduces the target block interval from 75 to 25 seconds, allowing users to receive their first transaction confirmation approximately three times faster. It also increases shielded transaction capacity and introduces new limits designed to reduce the impact of spam on wallet synchronization.
NU7 also introduces the Network Sustainability Mechanism (NSM), which reserves 60% of transaction fees for future mining rewards, beginning in 2031, while preserving Zcash’s existing halving schedule and 21 million ZEC supply cap. Additionally, the upgrade retires legacy version 4 transactions, making funds remaining in the Sprout pool unspendable under the current consensus rules. Together, these changes improve transaction efficiency, strengthen the network’s long-term security model, and prepare Zcash for future growth.
Following feedback from miners at Zcon7 in Cancún, the Zcash Foundation released Zebra Ándale (7.1.0-alpha.0), an experimental version of its full-node software focused on improving mining performance. The update introduces optimizations to block template generation, block acceptance, and propagation, helping mining infrastructure prepare for the faster 25-second block intervals introduced by NU7.
In benchmarks published by the team, Zebra Ándale demonstrated up to 9.6 times faster block acceptance compared to Zebra 7.0.0 and performed 3–4 times faster than Zakura 1.7.0 in the same tests. While still an alpha release intended for miners and mining pools, Ándale represents an important step toward improving network efficiency and reliability as Zcash enters its next phase of development.
Zodl released version 3.19.0 for iOS and Android, adding support for Zcash Network Upgrade 7 (NU7) ahead of its November 5 activation. The update ensures compatibility with the new network rules and temporarily pauses private migrations during the upgrade, allowing users to resume moving any remaining funds afterward.
The release follows Zodl 3.18.0, which introduced View-Only Wallets, allowing users to monitor balances and transaction activity by importing a full viewing key without storing spending keys on their device. Users can also customize these accounts, providing a convenient way to track ZEC holdings while keeping spending authority separate.
On October 28, Zcash celebrated its 10th anniversary, marking a decade of advancements in zero-knowledge cryptography and financial privacy. The milestone coincided with Zcon7, held from October 27–29 in Cancún, Mexico, bringing together developers, researchers, and community members to reflect on Zcash’s journey and discuss its future.
Under the theme “¡Vamos!”, Zcon7 featured workshops, panels, and collaborative discussions covering protocol development, governance, network security, and ecosystem growth. Key topics included the future of the Development Fund, potential changes to Zcash’s consensus mechanism, and ways to attract more developers. The gathering highlighted a decade of progress while encouraging greater collaboration to shape Zcash’s next chapter.
On October 21, researchers introduced Violet’s Constrained Locks (VCL), a new cryptographic approach that enables conditional spending arrangements for shielded ZEC. Built on FROST-based threshold signatures, the research explores mechanisms such as hash locks, witness-based conditions, and coordinated recovery paths, opening possibilities for more flexible financial applications without requiring traditional smart contracts.
The team is also exploring applications such as private payment streaming and ELSA, a proposed Lightning-like payment protocol for Zcash. However, current limitations can reveal the existence of certain locks on-chain. On November 4, researchers proposed changes involving ZIP 68 and ZIP 203 to support more private locking mechanisms. The technology remains experimental, with further development, security verification, and protocol changes needed before broader adoption.
The Zcash community is discussing major changes to the future of the Zcash Development Fund and Zcash Community Grants (ZCG). On October 29, ZCG proposed reducing its future funding and redirecting approximately 98,000 ZEC toward the Network Sustainability Mechanism (NSM). However, following community feedback, the committee withdrew the proposal on November 3, leaving the broader question of ZCG’s funding open for discussion.
Meanwhile, Tachyon Group and Shielded Labs introduced a separate draft proposal to end ZCG’s future funding stream, redirect its 8% allocation into a new Future Development and Legal Defense Fund, and contribute 50,000 ZEC from its treasury toward future mining rewards. The proposal would preserve the existing coinholder-controlled funding stream. No changes have been approved, and further community discussions and governance consultations are expected before any implementation.
The Financial Privacy Foundation (FPF) has opened applications for the Q4 2026 Coinholder-Directed Retroactive Grants Program, allowing developers, researchers, and community contributors to seek funding for completed work that benefits the Zcash ecosystem. Applicants can submit their own contributions or nominate others, with all work required to be publicly verifiable. Submissions are open until November 13 at 20:00 UTC.
Following a mandatory community review period from November 16 to December 16, ZEC holders will vote on eligible proposals between December 17 and 29. Each proposal will be evaluated individually through a coinholder vote, giving the community a direct role in deciding which completed contributions receive funding. The program continues to support development, security research, and other initiatives that strengthen the Zcash ecosystem.
On November 3, Zcash Labs published a report highlighting its efforts to expand Zcash adoption through events in Singapore, Taipei, San Francisco, and UC Berkeley. Using Vizor Wallet’s gift card feature, the team introduced participants to Zcash by distributing ZEC through QR codes, helping newcomers set up wallets and receive their first shielded funds.
The initiative recorded 1,434 wallet onboarding conversions at TOKEN2049 Singapore, approximately 50 in Taipei, and around 30 each in San Francisco and UC Berkeley. Reported costs per conversion ranged from $24 to $161, providing insights into the effectiveness of different outreach approaches. Zcash Labs emphasized that these figures measure onboarding activity rather than confirmed long-term users, highlighting the importance of improving wallet accessibility and tracking adoption outcomes.