Zcash plans to shut down its original privacy pool, Sprout, through its NU7 upgrade, which would make the roughly 12,224 ZEC (about $15 million to $16 million) still held there unspendable unless owners move them before activation. The upgrade removes version-4 transactions, the only format able to move coins out of Sprout, because maintaining obsolete technology adds complexity and security risks. According to the specification, the coins would be frozen rather than burned and would still count toward circulating supply, though spending them may never be re-enabled. NU7 also cuts the target block interval from 75 seconds to 25 seconds, making transactions roughly three times faster to confirm, and activation is set at block 3,543,405, expected Thursday evening US time.
Summary written by Upside AI from the original article. Read the source for full details.
Read the original on Decrypt ↗
Keywords
cryptoZECnetwork upgradeprivacy
Open a keyword to see other news on the same topic.
Related tickers and likely impact
ZEC/USDT
▼ Likely negativeZcash
Relevance: low
| Market | Crypto |
|---|---|
| Exchange | Binance |
| Sector | Privacy |
| Market cap | $21.2B |
| Close on 11/04/2026 | 1,296.78 |
| Change that session | +6.38% |
Impact is scored by AI from the headline and may be wrong. It is not investment advice.
Related news
- Zcash Is Getting a Major Upgrade in November. Could This Be a Catalyst for Further ZEC Price Gains?
The NU7 upgrade, due around Nov. 5, will cut Zcash's target block time from 75 seconds to 25 seconds, making confirmations roughly three times faster, although each exchange sets its own confirmation count. It also sends 60% of each block's fees into a network sustainability reserve, with miners keeping 40%, adds per-block limits on shielded transactions, and shuts down the Sprout privacy pool. The main risk is execution, as activation is on a faster schedule than the usual three months and stable mainnet software only launched on Oct. 22; funds left in Sprout would be lost. The author doesn't expect a big price impact, since upgrades are scheduled in advance and Zcash is already up 134% year to date, though a clean switch would be a positive sign.
- Solana's Alpenglow, its biggest network overhaul since 2020, goes live Wednesday
Solana will activate Alpenglow, its biggest network overhaul since 2020, on Wednesday. The upgrade moves validator voting off-chain and bundles votes into certificates, targeting finality of about 150 milliseconds versus roughly six seconds today, or about 40 times faster. Validators would pay a flat admission ticket of 0.8 SOL per epoch (about 24 hours) instead of roughly 2 SOL a day in vote fees, a cut of about 60%. The test network was reset six times since early May, and a network-wide migration failed and was rolled back before a later one succeeded, according to Galaxy Digital. The switch starts at epoch 1064, with the actual change at slot 459,653,000.
- Solana Sets a Date for Its Next Major Upgrade
The Solana Foundation says Alpenglow will go live on mainnet in epoch 1064, starting Wednesday, October 21, at about 15:00 UTC. The upgrade replaces TowerBFT and aims to cut transaction finality to roughly 150 milliseconds from about 12.8 seconds today. Because vote transactions will leave blocks, Solana's headline transaction and TPS counts will drop sharply without any change in real activity. Each vote account must hold an extra 0.8 SOL for a burned Validator Admission Ticket each epoch, which replaces the roughly 1 SOL validators spent on vote fees, and validators that cannot pay will sit out voting and block production in the following epoch. Validators approved Alpenglow with 98.27% of votes in September 2025, but Rotor, the replacement for Turbine, still has no date.
- Zcash grants committee drops plan to redirect 98,000 ZEC to future mining rewards
- Zcash grants group offers $124M compromise as governance backlash grows
Zcash Community Grants (ZCG) has proposed moving about 36,200 ZEC from its roughly 91,500-ZEC treasury to the Network Sustainability Mechanism (NSM) for future mining rewards, while forgoing about 62,000 ZEC in future allocations and tapering its remaining funding until the 2032 halving. Together, the changes would redirect about 98,000 ZEC (about $124 million) toward block rewards, leaving the committee with about 55,200 ZEC, worth about $70 million. The group describes the plan as preliminary, but critics have pushed back: Helius co-founder and CEO Mert Mumtaz called it “nowhere near good enough” and said the treasury is already too large, while Gemini co-founder Tyler Winklevoss questioned the accountability of a committee overseeing $110 million. The criticism follows a proposal by Zcash co-founder Sean Bowe to end ZCG’s automatic 8% share of newly issued ZEC and redirect it to the NSM while leaving the existing treasury untouched.
- Zcash co-founder calls to stop funding 'over $125M' grants program
Zcash co-founder Sean Bowe has proposed ending the automatic funding stream to Zcash Community Grants (ZCG), saying the program already holds over $125M and that its treasury is large enough to keep funding projects without further automatic payments. A draft GitHub proposal would redirect ZCG's 8% share of the ZEC block subsidy to the network's sustainability reserve until the current funding period ends in 2028, leaving existing funds untouched. According to ZCG's dashboard, it held 91,453 ZEC and $8.8 million in cash, with $2.4 million in outstanding grant commitments, and the ZEC holdings alone were worth about $111 million at press time. Earlier, in September, Haseeb Qureshi of Dragonfly proposed ending the Zcash developer fund when its current funding period expires, warning that it risks being 'politicized' as it approaches $100 million in value.
Related markets
Latest news
- Top Democrats call to rein in AI buildout after midterms sweep: 'National data center moratorium now'
After Democrats' midterm wins on Tuesday, Sen. Bernie Sanders called for a national data center moratorium, pointing to local referendums where voters approved restrictions on data centers. A CNBC Voter Poll found 56% of voters said AI and data centers were a crucial or major factor in their vote, and 65% of those voters backed a Democratic congressional candidate. Gina Hinojosa, who ousted Gov. Greg Abbott in Texas, pledged a moratorium on all data center approvals until the legislature passes protective laws. Chip stocks led the sell-off, with the iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX) tumbling nearly 9% on Tuesday, Nvidia down 8% and Advanced Micro Devices down more than 14%.
- Navitas Sinks 15% as AI Chip Stocks Slide After Midterms
Navitas Semiconductor (NVTS) fell 15% today, along with STMicroelectronics, onsemi and Microchip Technology, as AI chip stocks extended losses on concern that Democrats' midterm wins could slow the AI buildout. The decline came without company-specific news, a day after Navitas rose on a third-quarter beat, with revenue of $14.0 million, up 33% from the second quarter. Breakeven now requires more than $60 million in quarterly revenue, against $16 million guided for the fourth quarter, while fourth-quarter operating expenses are $25.0 million. Navitas expects AI infrastructure revenue to roughly triple in 2027, but at about 28x forward sales after the drop, the stock sits near its three-year average of 31x. NVIDIA's November 17 report is the next read on the 800-volt timing that Navitas's growth depends on.
- Bank Earnings Have Entered the Upside-Down
In this Motley Fool podcast recorded October 13, 2026, the hosts discuss the first major bank earnings reports, where JPMorgan posted EPS of 557 against expectations of 590, yet its stock rose while peers that beat estimates fell. Lou Whiteman attributes part of the miss to securities losses and slower investment banking, and says banks with heavy trading models did well while more diversified or rate-sensitive lenders showed signs of strain. Matt Frankel highlights card spending at major banks up 10% to 13% (6% to 9% after inflation), lower net charge-off rates and strong consumer credit quality, while business loans drove most reserve builds. The episode also covers the difficulty of automating warehouses and investment opportunities in robotics and automation.
- How Wall Street's postelection rally got obliterated — and what's next
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq posted their worst days since April 2025 on Thursday, as investors pulled out of tech stocks on fears that Democrats' midterm wins would slow AI data center construction. The Nasdaq fell about 4.5% into a correction, while the S&P 500 dropped about 4%, and all 11 sectors finished in the red. Neocloud providers were hit hardest: CoreWeave shares fell almost 9% and have lost more than half their value since the Nasdaq's October 6 record close, as Bloomberg reported Microsoft is tightening oversight of neocloud data center projects. Portfolio director Jeff Marks said hyperscalers, which already have large AI infrastructure, remain in a much better financial position than neoclouds to secure funding. Attention now turns to Friday's October jobs report, where economists expect 65,000 new jobs and a 4.2% unemployment rate, as odds of a December Fed rate hike fell from nearly 83% to 66% and the 10-year Treasury yield dropped back under 4.9%.
- Why Marvell Stock Is Falling Today
Marvell Technology (MRVL) shares fell 13.4% as of 2:42 p.m. ET on Thursday, November 5, as investors sold AI infrastructure stocks after Democrats flipped both houses of Congress and won key governorships. The article notes that new governors in Texas, Ohio and Georgia, major AI data center states, have promised construction moratoriums, and Marvell's networking chips move data inside those data centers. The stock is also under pressure from its all-stock deal, announced Monday, to buy AI photonics maker Lumentum for $115 billion, which could significantly dilute Marvell shareholders. Because the shares offered to Lumentum lose value as Marvell's stock falls, the article warns the deal could fall apart or be renegotiated with even more dilution.
- Himax Blames 'Abrupt nd Significant Correction' in Auto Chip Demand as Stock Crashes Nearly 30%. Is Now the Time to Buy?
Himax (HIMX) shares fell nearly 28% to $7.55 on Thursday after the chip designer forecast a steep revenue drop for the fourth quarter. President and CEO Jordan Wu blamed 'an abrupt and significant correction' in automotive display driver chip orders, saying customers that bought aggressively in earlier quarters sharply cut demand from early October. Third-quarter revenue rose 8.5% to $246.8 million and profit reached $18.6 million, above guidance. The fourth-quarter profit outlook of 4.5 to 6.5 cents per diluted ADS excludes an expected after-tax gain of about $19 to $20 million from selling an equity-method stake. Management still expects automotive chip sales to grow about 10% for the full year after a 16% rise in the first nine months, while foundries have announced significant price increases for 2027.
Get the briefing on Telegram or Zalo
Join the Upside Telegram channel or Zalo group for the Vietnam stocks and gold briefing at 8:00 and 19:00 (Vietnam time) on trading days, plus a weekly wrap on Saturday morning.