$16 Million May Be Blocked in Zcash After NU7 Upgrade

The Zcash network is set to activate the NU7 upgrade, which will bring significant changes to blockchain operations. The primary risk for users is the potential blocking of funds worth approximately $16 million.

If owners fail to withdraw approximately 12,200 ZEC from the oldest private pool, Sprout, before the upgrade activates, these funds will become inaccessible even with private keys.

Technical improvements will affect network performance and economics. The update aims to accelerate transaction processing and protect against spam.

Key changes include the following parameters:

1. Network acceleration: block generation time will decrease threefold, from 75 to 25 seconds.
2. Increased capacity: the performance of the private Orchard pool will more than double.
3. Updated fee system: 60% of fees are temporarily removed from circulation and directed to a reserve for miner payouts.
4. Spam protection: new restrictions on private transactions will reduce load on the network and wallets.