Zcash Price Surges 12% as NU7 Vote Backs Faster Blocks

Zcash price climbed sharply on Wednesday after the community backed major network changes under the NU7 upgrade, including faster block production while preserving the cryptocurrency’s existing halving structure.

ZEC was trading near $1,248.34 at press time, gaining roughly 12% over the previous 24 hours. The rally came despite weakness across the broader crypto market, with Bitcoin falling toward $75,800.

Nearly 2.4 million ZEC participated in the NU7 governance vote from approximately 3.6 million eligible tokens at the snapshot. Turnout reached about two-thirds of eligible supply, comfortably exceeding the 1 million ZEC participation threshold.

The strongest support centered on reducing Zcash block times from 75 seconds to 25 seconds. About 99.9% of participating ZEC backed the proposal, which would triple the number of blocks produced per hour and potentially deliver faster transaction confirmations and improved network performance.

The voting system also incorporated privacy features inspired by Zcash’s shielded technology. Ballots were encrypted and divided into 16 segments, allowing results to be verified without exposing individual balances or votes.

Meanwhile, approximately 98.9% of participating ZEC supported retaining the existing halving model. Mining rewards would therefore continue declining at scheduled intervals, maintaining a Bitcoin-style monetary structure rather than shifting toward gradual reductions.

Another 96.6% supported delaying reissuance through the Network Sustainability Mechanism until February 2031. The mechanism removes at least 60% of transaction fees from circulation before eventually reintroducing those coins through block rewards while preserving Zcash’s maximum supply.

The community also strongly favored accelerating NU7, with 99.3% supporting deployment as soon as possible. Features unfinished by the September 30 deadline could be excluded instead of delaying the entire network upgrade.

Additional momentum came after Zcash Labs secured funding to develop shielded pool support for Ledger hardware wallets, potentially expanding options for private ZEC storage.

Although the governance vote does not immediately implement the proposed changes, developers now have clear community direction on faster blocks, Zcash halvings and the NU7 rollout.