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Zcash developers propose 20-second blocks days after NU7 upgrade
A draft ZIP would cut the target block interval from 25 to 20 seconds, with developers seeking community input before a possible NU7.1 upgrade.
Key takeaways
- Proposal. A draft ZIP would lower Zcash's target block interval from 25 seconds to 20 seconds and seeks consideration in the next community poll and NU7.1.
- Capacity. The plan would cut the maximum shielded actions per block from 330 to 264 while keeping the 2 MB block size limit, so daily shielded capacity would not rise.
- Early data. ZecBlock recorded a 0.69% orphan rate in the 24 hours ending early Monday, versus about 0.66% before NU7, but expanded monitoring makes comparisons difficult.
What happened
Zcash developers have proposed another cut to the network's block interval, only days after the NU7 upgrade took effect. A draft Zcash Improvement Proposal submitted to the Zcash community forum by Dev Ojha, who uses the name ValarDragon, and Evan Forbes would lower the target from 25 seconds to 20 seconds. Cointelegraph and Crypto.news both reported the plan. The developers want the idea included in the next community poll and considered for NU7.1, a follow-up upgrade. No approval or activation date has been announced.
The stated goal is a shorter wait for an initial confirmation. Under the draft, a transaction needing one confirmation would have an expected wait of about 20 seconds instead of 25, while an exchange requiring three confirmations would see the expected period fall from 75 seconds to 60. Actual times vary because block discovery is random, and service providers can set their own confirmation rules. The proposal points to retail point-of-sale payments, exchange deposits and cross-chain swaps as activities that could benefit.
The change is not intended to raise daily shielded transaction capacity. To keep that capacity steady, the draft would lower the maximum number of shielded actions per block from 330 to 264 and leave the 2 MB block size limit unchanged. It would also adjust the block subsidy and halving interval so Zcash's issuance schedule and 21 million ZEC supply cap remain intact. A separate adjustment would increase the difficulty averaging window from 102 blocks to 128.
First $1.2KLatest $1.2K-0.5% over the period
Points are daily observations, not closing prices.
Why it matters
Confirmation latency is a practical concern for payments and transfers that must clear before another service acts. A 20-second target could make Zcash more responsive at the point of sale and in deposit flows, but faster blocks can also raise the risk of competing blocks, or orphans, if miners find blocks before the network settles on a chain. The proposal therefore pairs a modest interval reduction with changes meant to hold throughput and supply policy steady. It also shows developers tuning parameters incrementally after NU7 rather than proposing a broad redesign. Community review is the next step; the draft has no force until stakeholders endorse it.
What the data shows
Early mainnet data has been a central part of the case for another cut. ZecBlock's mining tracker showed an observed orphan rate of 0.69% in the 24 hours ending early Monday, compared with roughly 0.66% before NU7, according to Crypto.news. The rate across the full period since the upgrade was higher at 1.29%, reflecting an initial increase before later readings eased. Those figures come with a caveat: the monitoring service expanded from one node to ten shortly before the upgrade, so it can now detect competing blocks that earlier went unrecorded, making direct comparison difficult. Developers also ran separate tests with 80 miners across 12 regions to study a 20-second interval under demanding conditions.
Background
NU7 activated on Zcash mainnet on Nov. 6 at block 3,543,405, cutting the target interval from 75 seconds to 25 seconds. According to Crypto.news, the upgrade also introduced new shielded transaction limits and a Network Sustainability Mechanism that reserves 60% of transaction fees for future mining rewards while miners receive 40%. Cointelegraph reported that the mechanism recycles a portion of fees into future mining rewards and preserves the 21 million ZEC cap. The latest proposal arrived shortly after that activation. Developers had tested the 25-second setting earlier, and those safety tests recorded an orphan rate of 4.68%.
What is still unclear
Several questions remain open. The developers have not secured community approval, and no activation schedule exists. It is also unknown whether the next poll will include the proposal or whether NU7.1 will adopt it. The estimated effect on difficulty fluctuations, from roughly -40% to +30% down to -20% to +15%, is a projection, and Ojha said actual network performance still needs observation. Orphan-rate data will remain hard to compare until monitoring conditions are consistent.
What to watch
Watch the next Zcash community poll and any NU7.1 planning for a decision on the 20-second target. Subsequent ZecBlock readings may show whether orphan rates stay near pre-NU7 levels as monitoring matures. Difficulty behavior under the current 25-second setting will also indicate how the network might handle a further reduction.
Questions readers ask
What would the Zcash proposal change?
It would lower the target block interval from 25 seconds to 20 seconds, reduce shielded actions per block from 330 to 264, and adjust subsidy, halving and difficulty parameters to preserve capacity and issuance.
Has the 20-second block time been approved?
No. It is a draft ZIP. The developers want it included in a community poll and considered for NU7.1, but there is no approval or activation date.
What did the NU7 upgrade change?
NU7 activated on Nov. 6 at block 3,543,405, reducing the target interval from 75 seconds to 25 seconds and introducing a Network Sustainability Mechanism with a 60/40 fee split and new shielded transaction limits.
