Zcash holders back 25-second blocks, vote to keep ZEC halving schedule

Zcash token holders overwhelmingly approved shortening the networks target block time to 25 seconds from 75 seconds and voted to retain the existing ZEC halving schedule in a sentiment poll for the NU7 upgrade. The faster-block proposal drew 99.9% support by ZEC-weighted vote, while 98.9% backed keeping halvings, with both percentages counting abstentions.

By AI NewsroomPublished about 1 hour agoUpdated about 1 hour ago0 views

Zcash holders back 25-second blocks, vote to keep ZEC halving schedule

Why It Matters

Faster block times would cut the expected wait for a transactions first confirmation while keeping daily ZEC issuance constant, so the change affects user experience without altering short-term monetary supply. The results also show strong coinholder caution about major economic changes: the community chose to delay a proposed recycling mechanism for fees and largely preserve scheduled halvings.

Key Facts

faster-block vote: 99.9% of ZEC-weighted vote supported reducing target block time to 25 seconds (including abstentions)
halvings vote: 98.9% of ZEC-weighted vote supported keeping the existing halving schedule (including abstentions)
nsn reissuance delay vote: About 97% of token holders voted to delay NSM reissuance until February 2031
nsn token counts: 2.3 million ZEC voted to delay NSM reissuance; ~70,239 ZEC voted to start it immediately
eligibility: Voting power reflected spendable ZEC holdings in the Ironwood shielded pool at the snapshot

Zcash coinholders have endorsed a major change to the networks timing parameters while opting not to alter its scheduled issuance cuts. In a sentiment poll for the next planned upgrade, NU7, token-weighted voters backed shortening the target block interval from 75 seconds to 25 seconds and voted to preserve the existing halving timetable.

The proposal to speed up block production passed with 99.9% support by ZEC-weighted voting power, and 98.9% favored keeping halvings; both percentages include abstentions, according to results published Monday. Backers say the shorter target would reduce the expected wait for a transactions first confirmation. To maintain the same daily issuance of new ZEC, the amount released per block would be reduced proportionally under the change.

The vote was specific to coinholders whose ZEC was spendable in the Ironwood shielded pool at the snapshot and ran separately from parallel polls conducted by ZecHub, the Zcash Community Advisory Panel and other groups. Developers intend to finalize items for NU7 by a Sept. 30 cut-off; testnet and mainnet activation dates for the upgrade have not been set.

On economic reforms, the community signaled reluctance to start a new reissuance mechanism immediately. Roughly 97% of participating token holders favored delaying the Network Sustainability Mechanisms (NSM) reissuance until February 2031, with about 2.3 million ZEC voting to delay and roughly 70,239 ZEC voting to begin it as soon as possible. NSM, proposed in January to address long-term security budget concerns as block rewards decline, would recycle a portion of transaction fees (about 60%) into future block rewards while respecting the 21 million maximum supply. Separately, the advisory panel recorded a closer split on issuance design, with 57 members preferring a gradual issuance curve to replace halvings and 54 favoring keeping the halving schedule.

Market reaction was modest: ZEC rose 3.8% over the prior 24 hours and has climbed about 132% across the last month, per CoinMarketCap data. NU7 proponents also indicated token holders favored excluding features not implemented by the Sept. 30 deadline from the upgrade package, narrowing the scope of changes to be shipped on schedule.