Zcash NU7 mainnet activation (target)

November 5, 2026 is the target date for activating Network Upgrade 7 (NU7) on the Zcash mainnet. The date is tentative: it remains a plan until the activation height is set, which is expected on October 20. The upgrade concerns ZEC.

What is happening

NU7 is the ninth major network upgrade for Zcash. It has been live on the public testnet since October 4, 2026, activated at block height 4,465,026. For the main network, the project's upgrade page states that the activation height has not yet been set. That height is the block number from which the new rules apply, and it is what turns a target date into a deadline for exchanges, mining pools and wallet providers.

The most visible change is the target block interval, which falls from 75 to 25 seconds. Transfers should receive their first confirmation about three times faster on average. The cost is three times as many block headers for nodes to store and transmit, and a correspondingly lower reward per block, while the payout over time stays the same. Fee-related mechanisms are also listed, but their final wording sits in candidate ZIPs and can change until the height is fixed.

A second change affects holders directly. ZEC still sitting in the old Sprout shielded pool and not moved before NU7 is fully activated can no longer be spent afterwards. Addresses from that pool begin with "zc", while modern shielded addresses begin with "u" (unified) or "zs" (Sapling). Moving such funds is an ordinary transfer between one's own addresses. The old zcashd node does not support the expected consensus changes and is being retired, so node operators move to Zebra, the Rust implementation from the Zcash Foundation. According to the project, ASIC miners need change nothing themselves; responsibility lies with their mining pool.

Why it matters

Once an activation height is set, any node not running the new software by that block follows a different rule set. October 20 is therefore the more informative date: it shows whether the November plan holds or slips. Faster blocks may also shorten deposit times at exchanges, provided they do not raise their confirmation thresholds, and smaller mining pools may feel the change in block economics first.

For holders, the practical question is whether any balance is still in the Sprout pool. Coins held at an exchange, in a current wallet with a unified address, or transferred in recent years are not affected. Around 4.97 million of roughly 16.98 million ZEC in circulation were shielded at the time of the latest evaluation, about 29 percent. At the time of the source reporting, ZEC traded near $1,185 after a volatile week driven largely by futures liquidations rather than project news.

Key details

• Date: November 5, 2026 (target, day precision; tentative until the activation height is set, expected October 20)
• Project: Zcash
• Coins: ZEC
• Category: Network Upgrade
• Status: Tentative
• Source: cryptoticker.io (https://cryptoticker.io/en/zcash-liquidations-nu7-decision/)