Zcash Holders Choose 25-Second Blocks: What Would Change
Zcash coinholders backed a plan for 25-second blocks while preserving the network’s existing halving schedule, but the advisory result does not alter the mainnet rules yet.
Key Takeaways
- Nearly 2.4 million ZEC participated in voting.
- Coinholders backed a 25-second block target.
- Daily ZEC issuance would remain broadly unchanged.
- Existing halvings won over gradual issuance.
- The vote does not activate NU7 changes.
Nearly 2.4 million ZEC participated in the vote on Network Upgrade 7, or NU7, from approximately 3.6 million ZEC eligible at the snapshot. That was well above the one-million-ZEC threshold organizers had set for treating the result as representative of coinholders.
The published results show that at least 99% of participating ZEC supported reducing the target time between blocks from 75 seconds to 25 seconds. Another 98.9% supported preserving Zcash’s existing halving schedule rather than replacing it with a gradually declining issuance curve.
Results were weighted by eligible ZEC rather than counted as one vote per person. A wallet controlling more ZEC therefore carried more voting power, although the system was designed to keep individual balances and choices private.
A shorter block time changes what users wait for
A block contains transactions that the network has accepted into its shared record. With the current 75-second target, someone making a payment waits approximately 75 seconds on average for the next block and a first confirmation. A 25-second target would reduce that expected initial wait to about 25 seconds.
The improvement would be most noticeable in situations that rely on one or two confirmations, including smaller payments, exchange deposits and some cross-chain operations. It would not guarantee that every service credits a transaction within 25 seconds. Exchanges and merchants can set their own confirmation requirements, and actual block times vary around the target.
The technical proposal, ZIP 218, also adds limits on how many shielded actions each block can contain. The limits are designed to prevent the faster schedule from placing excessive processing and synchronization demands on wallets and network nodes.
Shorter intervals would also increase the likelihood that two miners produce competing blocks at nearly the same time. ZIP 218 estimates that the stale-block rate, the share of valid blocks that do not remain in the accepted chain, could rise from about 0.4% to approximately 3.26%. Its action limits would reduce worst-case light-wallet synchronization bandwidth from roughly 271 MB to 169 MB per day.
Three times as many blocks will not triple ZEC supply
Reducing the interval from 75 to 25 seconds would produce approximately three times as many blocks in the same period. Without another adjustment, that could accelerate miner rewards and bring future halvings forward.
ZIP 218 prevents that outcome by reducing the subsidy attached to each block and extending the halving interval when measured in blocks. Three smaller rewards would be issued during roughly the same time in which the network currently issues one larger reward. Daily ZEC creation would therefore remain approximately unchanged; the faster schedule would change when transactions are recorded, not how many coins can ultimately exist.
By preserving halvings, coinholders kept the reward model that Zcash inherited from Bitcoin: the mining subsidy falls by half at roughly four-year intervals. Coindoo’s guide to the Bitcoin halving explains how that mechanism controls new issuance.
Holders rejected a smoother reward curve for miners
ZIP 234 proposed replacing the large reward cuts with a gradual decline while retaining the 21-million-ZEC ceiling. Its aim was to make miner revenue less vulnerable to a sudden 50% reduction at each halving.
The proposal notes that Zcash mining difficulty fell after the 2020 and 2024 halvings, which is consistent with some miners switching off equipment after their rewards dropped. Coinholders nevertheless chose to retain the established schedule.
The planned Network Sustainability Mechanism would provide a separate source of future miner rewards. It would remove funds from circulation, including at least 60% of transaction fees under the proposal, before recycling the ZEC through later block subsidies.
On the timing of that recycling, 96.6% of participating ZEC supported waiting until February 2031. The delay would allow the collected funds to accumulate for several years before they begin returning to miners.
The vote counted ZEC without exposing individual balances
Only spendable shielded ZEC held in the Ironwood pool at the snapshot could participate. This allowed voting power to reflect actual holdings without requiring voters to publish their balances or connect them publicly with a chosen answer.
According to the voting design, each vote was encrypted and split into 16 unlinkable ballots. Validators could calculate the combined totals, but the system was designed to prevent them from reconstructing an individual voter’s balance and choices.
The vote also backed retiring Zcash’s oldest privacy pool
Approximately 97.3% of participating ZEC supported disabling version 4 transactions connected with Sprout when NU7 activates. Sprout was Zcash’s original shielded system, but deposits have been disabled since 2018. At the time the poll was prepared, it held fewer than 23,000 ZEC and accounted for less than 0.1% of transaction volume.
The vote concerns when the old transaction format should stop being accepted. It does not determine what should happen to funds affected by the retirement, which was explicitly left outside the poll.
September 30 decides what can enter NU7
Coinholders voted 99.3% to launch NU7 without waiting for every proposed feature. Anything not implemented by the September 30 readiness deadline could be removed from the upgrade rather than delaying components that are complete.
That deadline is not an activation date. ZIP 218 remains a draft, and the document governing NU7 deployment still lists its testnet and mainnet activation heights as undecided. Supported features must be completed, reviewed, tested and included in the final package before nodes can enforce them.
Until that package is tested and assigned an activation height, Zcash will continue producing blocks on its existing 75-second schedule.
This article is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial or investment advice. NU7 features remain subject to implementation, testing, final inclusion and mainnet activation.
Alexander Zdravkov is a market analyst and crypto journalist with interests in economics, broader financial markets and digital assets. His journey into crypto began more than four years ago, driven by a fascination with the rapid evolution of blockchain technology and the transformative potential of decentralized finance. He began analyzing market cycles and identifying emerging trends before they reach the mainstream. He holds a degree in International Relations - a background that helped shape his broader perspective on global economics, geopolitics, and the interconnected nature of modern financial markets. Whether covering the latest developments in the crypto sector or exploring broader macroeconomic themes, Alexander focuses on giving readers context rather than simply repeating headlines. During his career, he has authored more than 5,000 articles covering cryptocurrencies, traditional finance, and global market developments. His work spans everything from Bitcoin and altcoins to macroeconomic trends influencing risk assets worldwide.
