Zcash (ZEC) Coinholders Back 25-Second Blocks With 99.9% Support in NU7 Vote

99.9% Back 25-Second Blocks

Zcash (ZEC) coinholders have handed the network a decisive mandate to run faster, with 99.9% of participating stake backing a cut of block times to 25 seconds in the coinholder vote that settles the scope of NU7, the privacy chain's next major upgrade. Nearly 2.4 million ZEC took part out of roughly 3.6 million eligible at the voting snapshot — a participation rate near 66%, comfortably above the 1 million ZEC minimum organizers set before the outcome could count as representative. At the current cadence of roughly 75 seconds, the change would roughly triple how often new blocks appear, shortening the wait users face for fresh blocks and first confirmations on everyday payments. The result is weighted by stake rather than by heads: each eligible ZEC counted as one vote, so the 99.9% figure measures coin weight, not the number of addresses or people behind it. The mechanics underline how carefully the process was run. Only ZEC held in Ironwood, the newest shielded pool, was eligible to vote, and each ballot was encrypted and split into 16 pieces so validators could tally results without linking any wallet address to a voter or to the size of their holdings. Turnout marks a sharp break from February's sentiment poll, which drew stakes equal to just 7.25% of circulating supply. Community voting groups had converged on the same package ahead of the ballot — faster blocks paired with ZIP 218, retiring the legacy Sprout privacy system, and shipping NU7 as soon as possible — leaving little daylight between deliberation and the recorded result. As the latest entry in the broader Zcash upgrade cycle, NU7 will land as a coordinated network upgrade, a fork that rewrites consensus parameters rather than a soft tweak, so approved features must still be built and tested before anything changes on-chain.

Halvings Stay, Fees Deferred to 2031

The monetary-policy question drew an equally lopsided answer. Roughly 2.376 million ZEC — 98.9% of valid voting weight — backed keeping bitcoin-style halvings, the scheduled cuts that halve newly issued ZEC paid to miners at fixed intervals, while only about 22,400 ZEC favored a smoother, gradual emission curve. Holders thus chose to preserve the scarcity cadence rather than trade it for steady drip issuance. Voters also opted to disable transactions tied to Sprout, the protocol's obsolete original privacy pool, and 99.3% wanted NU7 shipped as soon as possible, dropping any feature not implemented by a Sept. 30 readiness deadline. On the Network Sustainability Mechanism — the system that pulls at least 60% of transaction fees out of circulation and later recycles them through block rewards without changing the maximum supply — 96.6% of voting weight chose to wait until February 2031 before reissuing accumulated fees to miners, setting up years of fee buildup before any of it returns as rewards. Advisory panels split from coinholders on timing: panel voters preferred an earlier start, while holders picked 2031. On Tuesday, Shielded Labs, Project Tachyon, ZODL, the Zcash Foundation and Valar Group said they are aligned on February 2031 as the most conservative reading of the results. Markets treated the package as more than housekeeping. ZEC initially rose about 3.7% to trade near $1,182 as results circulated, extending a rally that has carried the token up 129% over the past 30 days and more than 2,200% over the year — a run that took it to its highest level since November 2016, before a liquidation wave wrung out $23.75M in overleveraged longs mid-month. Spot has since accelerated further, with ZEC last up 11.6% over the past 24 hours, and for readers positioning ahead of NU7, our How to Buy Zcash (ZEC) guide covers exchange selection and wallet setup in this bull market. Readers tracking the market in real time can follow live spot and futures prices on Gate.

Sept. 30 Deadline Now Sets the Clock

Read together, the ballot threads trace a single arc: holders are hardening both halves of the ZEC thesis at once. On the recorded vote, the mandate is unambiguous — about 2.4 million ZEC cleared the 1 million quorum from a 3.6 million snapshot, with 99.9% for 25-second blocks and 98.9% for intact halvings written into the outcome. Faster settlement serves usability; preserved halvings protect the scarcity story behind the token's 129% monthly gain and its 213% lead above the privacy sector's last October high. With the Sept. 30 readiness deadline fixed, implementation and testing — not consent — is now the gating factor for NU7 deployment.