Zcash Activates NU7 on Testnet, Seeks to Cut Block Time to 25 Seconds Ahead of November Mainnet Rollout
Summary
- Zcash said it has entered the final testing phase for a November mainnet rollout after applying the NU7 upgrade to its testnet.
- Zcash said NU7 will cut the block interval from 75 seconds to 25 seconds and introduce a Network Sustainability Mechanism that converts part of transaction fees into future block rewards.
- ZEC held in the Sprout privacy pool will become unusable after NU7 is fully activated, meaning holders must move their funds to another address before the upgrade.
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Zcash has activated its next network upgrade, NU7, on testnet, entering the final testing phase ahead of a planned mainnet rollout in November.
Cointelegraph reported on October 5 that block No. 4,465,026, the scheduled activation point for NU7, was generated at 6:21 p.m. UTC that day on ZecBlock, Zcash’s testnet block explorer. Zcash also confirmed the testnet activation of NU7 in a post on X.
The core change in NU7 is a reduction in the network’s target block interval to 25 seconds from 75 seconds. The upgrade will also disable Version 4, or V4, transactions and introduce a Network Sustainability Mechanism that converts part of transaction fees into future block rewards.
Once V4 transactions are disabled, ZEC held in the legacy Sprout privacy pool will no longer be usable after NU7 is fully activated. Users holding those funds must move them to another address before the upgrade takes effect.
The Zcash Foundation asked testnet operators to use the NU7 release candidate to test the upgrade under real-world conditions. Developers plan to make a final decision on the mainnet rollout based on the results of testnet operations.
The Zcash development team plans to decide on October 20 whether to activate NU7 on mainnet and at what block height. The current target date for the mainnet rollout is November 5.
Suehyeon Lee
shlee@bloomingbit.ioI'm reporter Suehyeon Lee, your Web3 Moderator.