Zcash Foundation Reveals Official Roadmap For Upgrading Network 7

Key Dates and What Changes

@Zcash has officially published the roadmap for its NU7 upgrade, also known as Network 7. Code completion is due by September 30, with the final mainnet activation height to be confirmed on October 20. A testnet rollout is scheduled for October 6, followed by a targeted mainnet activation on November 5.

The headline change in the upgrade is a significant reduction in block speed. Block time will be reduced from 75 to 25 seconds, increasing transaction speed by roughly 300%. To prevent that faster cadence from inflating the coin supply, the block reward will be divided by three, keeping the total coin supply on roughly the same long-term path despite the faster blocks.

The upgrade also disables older version 4 transactions and introduces a new Network Sustainability Mechanism. A sustainability plan will allocate 60% of fees to miners starting in 2031.

Broad Stakeholder Agreement

The schedule reflects unanimous agreement among the Zcash Foundation, Project Tachyon, Valar, ZODL, and Shielded Labs. Community sentiment played a direct role in shaping the economics of the upgrade. A community vote saw about 2.4 million $ZEC participate, representing 66% of the eligible pool. Voters backed the existing halving schedule with 98.9% support and approved, with 96.6% support, a February 2031 date to return transaction fees to circulation.

For most holders, no action is required. Zcash activates the NU7 network upgrade on November 5, 2026, and anyone holding $ZEC has nothing to move. Action is only needed from those running their own node, indexer, or block explorer. Node operators should note that NU7 will not be supported by zcashd, meaning operators will need to upgrade to the Zebra consensus node developed by the Zcash Foundation, an independent implementation written in the memory-safe Rust language.

Sources:
Zcash Official NU7 Upgrade Page
Zcash NU7 Upgrade Timeline, Blockchain Reporter
Zcash Targets November 5 Upgrade, CoinPaprika