The activation is a block event, with a timezone-specific date

Zcash's NU7 network upgrade activated at mainnet block 3,543,405, observed at 02:34 UTC on 6 November 2026 by the ZecStats tracker. That is 06:34 in Dubai and the evening of 5 November in US Central time. The difference explains why reports can name different calendar dates for the same activation.

ZIP 259 establishes the mainnet activation height and the consensus changes included. The tracker supplies the observed timing, rather than the earlier estimate of when mining would reach that height. Its observation and the deployment specification answer different questions: what the software was configured to do, and when the chain reached that point.

Faster target blocks do not triple daily issuance

The upgrade reduces target block spacing from 75 seconds to 25 seconds while reducing the subsidy per block correspondingly. The design preserves the daily issuance pace and the 21 million ZEC upper supply limit. A target interval is not a promise that each individual block arrives on that exact schedule.

For wallets and services, the relevant effect is that a count expressed in blocks can represent a different elapsed time after activation. A confirmation policy or timeout should therefore be reviewed in its actual operational context. Simply keeping the same number without checking its intended purpose can change the service's behaviour.

Removed fees are intended for later issuance

ZIP 235 directs 60% of transaction fees out of circulation, while ZIP 237 defines a mechanism for later algorithmic reissuance through subsidies. The documents distinguish that design from permanently destroying the fees. The existing halving structure is retained within the specified mechanism.

That distinction limits what can be inferred from descriptions of fee removal. Temporarily unavailable value is not economically identical to a permanent reduction in the supply ceiling. Evaluating the change requires following both the removal rule and the subsequent issuance rule, rather than treating the first transfer as the entire monetary policy.

Legacy transaction support is a material operational change

NU7 also disallows version 4 transactions, making the legacy Sprout pool unspendable under the new rules. This is a compatibility change with consequences for old funds and tooling, not merely an improvement in display speed. Users and operators should rely on current official wallet and node instructions when checking support.

The deployment specification warns that unsupported software may follow a pre-upgrade consensus branch. A service appearing online is therefore insufficient evidence that it follows the intended network. The post-activation task is to confirm compatible software and correct chain status. NU7 changes network rules for existing ZEC; this report does not identify a new token sale, a claim process or a guaranteed effect on market price.

Photograph and reuse credit

Archival photograph of Zcash founder Zooko Wilcox-O'Hearn at the 34th Chaos Communication Congress in Leipzig, 29 December 2017; not a photograph of NU7 activation. Photograph: Tobias Klenze. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Image unchanged. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2017-12-29_Zooko_Wilcox-O%27Hearn_8073.jpg. Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ Attribution: Image: Wikipedia / Tobias Klenze / CC-BY-SA 4.0.

Go deeper on CryptoGov

Sources & verification

Researched and published by CryptoGov Editorial Desk. Source publication and effective dates are explained in the article where relevant.