Zcash price in focus after NU7 upgrade goes live
Published on 11/07/2026 at 07:05 | Editorial responsibility: Rafael Müller, Editor-in-Chief AD HOC NEWSNU7 Changes Zcash Network Economics
- Zcash activated the NU7 upgrade at mainnet block 3,543,405 on Nov. 5, 2026, according to The Block.
- The upgrade reduced target block intervals from 75 seconds to 25 seconds while keeping the expected issuance rate and 21 million ZEC cap broadly unchanged.
- NU7 directs 60% of transaction fees to a public reserve, with reissuance through block rewards scheduled to begin in 2031.
- Legacy version 4 transactions were disabled, making remaining Sprout-pool balances unspendable at activation.
Zcash's NU7 upgrade is now live, giving the privacy-focused cryptocurrency a faster block schedule and a revised approach to funding network security. The Zcash price was 1,320.77 US dollars in the Investing.com snapshot read for this report on Nov. 7, 2026. The page also showed a market capitalization of 22.37 billion US dollars, 24-hour volume of 1.45 billion US dollars and a circulating supply of 16.95 million ZEC.
The market data is a current page reading rather than a verified UTC daily close. Because the available price page does not provide the prior UTC day-close basis required for a like-for-like daily calculation, the report does not assign a daily percentage move to this snapshot.
NU7 activates at fixed block height
NU7 activated at mainnet block 3,543,405. The Block reported the activation on Nov. 5 and said the upgrade cuts the target block interval from 75 seconds to 25 seconds. Since Zcash upgrades are triggered by block height rather than a calendar timestamp, the event date should be distinguished from the Nov. 7 market snapshot.
The faster cadence does not by itself increase the planned daily creation of ZEC. Block subsidies are reduced in line with the shorter interval, while the existing halving schedule and 21 million ZEC supply cap are preserved. For users and exchanges, the change is mainly relevant to confirmation timing and the software required to remain on the consensus chain.
Fee reserve changes the long-term design
NU7 also activated the Network Sustainability Mechanism. Under the new rules, 60% of each block's transaction fees are removed from circulation and placed in a public reserve, while miners receive the remaining 40%. The Block reported that the reserved fees are scheduled to be reissued through block rewards beginning at block 8,939,664, expected in 2031.
This creates a longer-term funding mechanism for network security, but it does not establish a near-term valuation floor for ZEC. Investors still need to distinguish a protocol change from evidence of sustained user demand, liquidity or adoption.
Legacy Sprout balances become inaccessible
NU7 also disables version 4 transactions. Because the original Sprout shielded pool relies on that format, ZEC still held there became unspendable at activation. Coinranking reported that about 12,226 ZEC remained in Sprout when the change took effect. The issue concerns legacy funds, not a general requirement for holders to move ZEC from standard supported wallets.
Against this backdrop, the Zcash price is being assessed both as a liquid crypto asset and as a market response to a completed protocol upgrade. Further interpretation depends on how wallets, exchanges, miners and users operate under the new rules. More coverage is available on the Zcash topic page.
