Zcash Sets NU7 Activation Block: Blocks Three Times Faster, ZEC +12%

Zcash developers have agreed on the mainnet activation block for the NU7 upgrade, block number 3,543,405, expected around November 5. The upgrade cuts the interval between blocks from 75 to 25 seconds, a threefold change. Within a day the ZEC coin gained roughly 12%.

According to CoinGecko data cited by Cointelegraph, the token traded near $1,270, and growth since January exceeds 148%. Fifteen days remain until the date, but part of the work is still open.

The event is interesting for more than price. Zcash is changing one of the most visible network parameters, the time between blocks, and developers rarely touch it because it affects exchanges, wallets and miners alike. Below we break the upgrade down into numbers.

Four minutes of waiting become one

An exchange that credits a ZEC deposit after three confirmations now waits almost four minutes, since three blocks of 75 seconds make 225 seconds. After NU7 that drops to about 75 seconds. For payments on a network that markets itself as private, the difference is noticeable.

Confirmation speed and fees are different things. NU7 does not make transfers cheaper, it only shortens the wait. For an exchange that means less time with a client's deposit sitting in a "pending" status.

The upgrade has been running on the test network since early October. The proposal with the activation height was filed on Tuesday by developer Sean Bowe, and two colleagues approved it.

The public upgrade dashboard of the Zakura node already lists this block as the planned mainnet activation point, around November 5.

"Height agreed at ZIP editor meeting."

- Sean Bowe, Zcash developer, from a GitHub proposal of October 20, 2026

ZIP editors are the group that signs off on changes to the blockchain's rules. Their agreement means the date is no longer a guess, though it does not mean everything is ready to launch.

What is pulled from circulation and what is switched off

NU7 removes 60% of the fees collected in each block from circulation. Those coins will be paid back to miners starting around February 2031, and the schedule for halving the mining reward stays as it is. So this is not destruction but a payout postponed by more than four years.

The arithmetic is simple: out of every hundred units of fees, forty stay in circulation and sixty wait in reserve. For price that is a small but real supply effect, since fewer coins move around the network each day.

For miners the scheme offers a long horizon rather than immediate income. Their block reward in the meantime follows a schedule that does not change, so the direct benefit from fees is pushed into the early 2030s.

The second change is harsher. Sprout, the original Zcash privacy system, shuts down entirely. Coins still sitting there at activation become unspendable, so holders have until early November to move their funds.

The risk here rests entirely on holders. After activation the network will not restore access to coins left in Sprout.

The market added 12% in a day and over 148% since January

The move began on Tuesday. According to Decrypt, ZEC rose 8.5% to $1,215.85, and market capitalization reached $20.57 billion. Bitcoin gained only 1.57% that day to $83,195, so Zcash outran it by more than five times.

For scale, a $20.57 billion market cap puts Zcash among the largest assets on the market, not among niche coins. That is why daily moves of 8-12% register across the whole category of privacy tokens.

On Wednesday the pace picked up to 12% over 24 hours. Total crypto market capitalization rose 1.68% on Tuesday to $2.78 trillion, and small and midsize coins gave the rebound more than the large ones.

The backdrop remains neutral. The Fear and Greed Index sits at 51 out of 100, while the altcoin season index reads 60 against thresholds of 25 and 75, so neither camp dominates. Pressure comes from US Treasury yields, with ten-year notes trading above 5%, and Brent crude near $110 a barrel. The Federal Reserve meets on October 27 and 28, and traders will watch for signals of further rate hikes.

Why the coin rose before activation

Before the rebound ZEC had lost about 25% over a month. Some leveraged positions had already been closed by force, so selling pressure eased and the price had room to bounce. Traders usually buy ahead of such events, and the NU7 date gave them a reason.

There is a catch. Buying before an event often ends in taking profits after it, and if the date slips, a quick reversal has nothing to stop it.

Zcash belongs to high beta assets that move harder than the market in both directions. Over seven days it gained only 1.17%, so the one-day jump has not yet erased the monthly decline. For comparison, Monero rose 15.29% in a week to $609.87, and privacy coins as a group look stronger than the rest.

Context matters from the other side too. Over the month ZEC lost about a quarter of its value, so the current $1,270 has only partly recovered that fall. Keep this in mind when headlines talk about a rally.

For both coins the question is the same, whether the news is enough to hold the levels without support from the wider market. There is no answer yet.

What is still not done

Developers have not confirmed whether the open issues could affect the date. That is not a formality, because the picture right now is this:

• The proposal with the height has two approvals but, as of Wednesday morning, was not merged into the deployment specification.
• Node software still has to include the chosen height.
• The Zcash Foundation readiness tracker shows 6 of 12 tasks completed, with the rest tied to Zebra node synchronization and mainnet preparation.

The next two weeks will say more than any price candle. We need to see the proposal merged, an updated deployment specification and node releases carrying the chosen height. Each of these steps can be checked separately, and they will confirm that the November 5 date holds.

Those who keep Zcash in Sprout should keep checking the news on the date, because after activation those coins can no longer be spent.

The bottom line in numbers

NU7 gives the network blocks three times faster, 60% of fees temporarily withheld and the end of Sprout. The market has already priced this in, namely +12% in a day and over 148% since January. The real test comes on November 5, if the remaining 6 of 12 tasks are closed by then. Three indicators deserve a place on the screen, namely the Zcash Foundation tracker, the merge of Bowe's proposal and the node release date. If even one slips, the market gets a reason to reprice what is already built into the price.