Zcash targets November 5 upgrade to accelerate private payments

Zcash is set to activate the NU7 upgrade on November 5, 2026, reshaping the network's transaction speed and post-halving economics in a single push. The NU7 roadmap consolidates three major changes: the 25-second block time, preservation of existing halving intervals, and integration of the fee mechanism. These elements emerged from developer consensus and a community vote on how to handle post-halving mining incentives without breaking the chain's original halving schedule. For proof-of-work privacy chains, the halving creates a structural risk: block rewards decline by 50%, and if fees do not rise to fill the gap, miner revenue drops sharply. Zcash's solution directs a portion of future transaction fees into a supplemental pool for miners, reducing the risk of hash rate collapse after the next halving while keeping the reward curve intact. The November 5 target gives the network two months to finalize code review, testnet validation, and exchange coordination before activation.