Zcash, 3x Speed Upgrade..."Hundreds of Times the Cost for Spam Transactions"

▲ Zcash(ZEC)/ChatGPT generated image

Zcash (ZEC) has launched its Network Upgrade 7 (NU7) testnet, aiming to improve processing speed. The core of the upgrade is to reduce block creation time from the existing 75 seconds to 25 seconds. U.Today reported on May 22 (local time) that this upgrade is expected to triple transaction confirmation speed and double network throughput.

This NU7 upgrade goes beyond simple speed improvement and strongly reconfigures the Zcash network structure. As block creation time shortens, the burden of orphan blocks can increase, so Zcash has optimized its peer synchronization algorithm to strengthen network stability.

A new miner revenue protection mechanism will also be introduced. The Network Sustainability Mechanism (NSM) involves not burning a portion of transaction fees but rather accumulating them in a special fund for long-term miner support. This measure considers the situation where the amount of coins miners receive decreases after halving.

The method of blocking spam transactions is also changing. Previously, it was possible for large transactions containing up to 1,100 addresses to burden the network while only paying a low basic fee. NU7 changes this by calculating fees for each logical action, such as inputs and outputs, thereby keeping the cost of normal transactions low while making large spam transactions hundreds of times more expensive.

However, the new v6 transaction format was excluded from this deployment. The reasons given were that complex code changes could harm network stability and cause compatibility issues with Ledger and Keystone hardware wallets. Consequently, the launch of Zcash Shielded Assets (ZSAs), which support private stablecoins or custom token issuance and swaps, has also been postponed.

Mert Mumtaz, CEO of Helius, commented that Zcash will become much faster. Market reaction has been calm compared to the technical changes, and the process of the upgrade proving its stability on the testnet and confirming the mainnet launch schedule remains a key future challenge.

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