Zcash is heading into its seventh network upgrade at a busy moment. ZEC crossed the $1,000 mark on September 4, the network turns ten on October 28, and NU7 is scheduled to activate on mainnet on November 5. For anyone who holds ZEC or swaps into it, the upgrade changes how fast transactions confirm, how fees are handled and which old transactions the network still accepts.
This guide covers what NU7 changes, what holders need to do before activation, and how to get ZEC to a shielded address without an account. Fee, minimum and timing figures for swaps come from the public route table of Wagyu.xyz, a non-custodial instant swap service for Monero and Zcash, as of October 20.
What NU7 changes
The deployment specification, ZIP 259, lists the changes. Three of them matter to users:
- Faster blocks. ZIP 218 cuts the target time between blocks from 75 seconds to 25 seconds. The reward per block is reduced accordingly, so the amount of ZEC issued each day does not change. A transaction waiting for a set number of confirmations should get them in about a third of the time, although exchanges and services may raise the number of confirmations they require. The same ZIP also caps the number of shielded actions per block.
- A share of fees leaves circulation. ZIP 235 removes 60% of each block’s transaction fees from circulation and records them in a Network Sustainability Mechanism balance. ZIP 237 defines how that balance is issued again later, with the halving schedule preserved; reissuance is planned to start in 2031. The changes do not raise the 21 million ZEC supply cap.
- Old transactions stop working. ZIP 2003 makes version 4 transactions invalid once NU7 activates. Version 5 and version 6 transactions stay valid, and NU7 introduces no new transaction format. Because Sprout transfers can only be written as version 4 transactions, any funds still sitting in Sprout, the original shielded pool, become unspendable.
The timeline
- October 4: NU7 activated on the public testnet at block 4,465,026.
- October 20: the date ZIP 259 set for fixing the exact mainnet activation height, after two weeks of testnet monitoring.
- October 27 to 29: Zcon7, the Zcash community conference, in Cancun.
- November 5: target date for mainnet activation. Activation is tied to a block height, so the exact time can shift by a few hours.
What ZEC holders need to do
Most holders have nothing to do. Coins in a current wallet stay where they are: there is no token swap, no migration deadline and no address to send funds to. Anyone who asks you to send ZEC somewhere to “upgrade” it is running a scam.
Three groups should act before November 5:
- Users of old wallet software: update, so the wallet no longer builds version 4 transactions. If in doubt, send a small test transaction after updating.
- Anyone with funds left in Sprout: move them before activation, because they become unspendable afterwards.
- Node operators, indexers and block explorers: upgrade to an NU7-compatible release. Nodes that do not upgrade will follow an outdated chain.
Swapping around the activation
Exchanges and swap services commonly pause ZEC deposits and withdrawals for a few hours around a network upgrade while their nodes switch over. If you plan to move ZEC on November 5, check the status page of the service you use, avoid sending large amounts in the hours around the activation block, and keep your order page or transaction ID until the funds arrive.
After activation, faster blocks should shorten the confirmation part of a ZEC deposit. The rest of a swap, routing and execution on the other side, does not change.
Shielded or transparent: where your ZEC lands
Zcash addresses come in two kinds. A transparent address (t1…) works like a Bitcoin address: the amount and the destination are public. A shielded or unified address (u1… or zs1…) keeps the payment details off the public chain. Most current wallets, including Zodl, Ywallet, Zingo and the Ledger Zcash Shielded app, give you a unified u1 address.
Many instant exchanges still pay ZEC to transparent addresses only, which leaves users to shield the coins in a second step. When buying ZEC for privacy, check where the service pays before you send.
How to swap into ZEC without an account
Non-custodial swap services take a deposit in one coin and send the other coin to an address you provide. There is no account balance: each order is swapped and sent, or refunded. On Wagyu.xyz, swaps into Zcash are paid directly to the shielded part of the destination address. Its route table on October 20 showed the following:
| Route | Wagyu fee | Minimum | Typical time |
| Bitcoin to Zcash | 2% | About $40 | About 20 min |
| Ethereum to Zcash | 2% | About $20 | About 10 min |
| Solana to Zcash | 2% | About $20 | About 10 min |
| USDT to Zcash | 2% | About $20 | About 10 min |
| Monero to Zcash | 2% | About $25 | About 10 min |
| Zcash to Bitcoin | 0% | About $20 | About 20 min |
| Zcash to USDT | 0% | About $20 | About 12 min |
| Zcash to Monero | 2% | About $20 | About 10 min |
The fee shown is the service fee; network and trading costs come on top and are listed in the quote. The final amount is an estimate, not a floor, and can move with the market during execution. Wagyu.xyz has processed more than $1 billion in swaps since launch, according to its public statistics.
Before any swap, three checks:
- Use your own wallet address. Some address types, such as TEX addresses, cannot receive payouts from every service.
- Give a refund address in the coin you send, so a failed order can be returned.
- Check the address bar. Copies of swap sites that replace the deposit address with their own are common.
Bottom line
NU7 is a consensus upgrade, not a token migration. For holders it brings faster confirmations and retires old transaction types; the only real deadline concerns funds still in Sprout. For swappers, the practical points are to avoid the activation window on November 5 and to make sure ZEC lands at a shielded address.
Disclaimer: The content on this site should not be considered investment advice. Investing is speculative. When investing, your capital is at risk.
Featured image via Shutterstock.
