Zcash developers Dev Ojha and Evan Forbes have proposed cutting the network’s target block interval from 25 seconds to 20 seconds, according to a November 9, 2026 report by Jinse Finance citing CoinDesk. The proposal had not been approved, and no activation date had been set.
The plan was expected to be discussed in the next community vote and could be included in a future NU7.1 upgrade. Zcash had recently reduced its target block interval from 75 seconds to 25 seconds through the NU7 upgrade.
Faster confirmations, unchanged supply rules
Under the proposal, the estimated wait for three transaction confirmations would fall from 75 seconds to 60 seconds, although actual waiting times would still vary.
The proposal also calls for reducing shielded-transaction capacity per block to keep daily capacity unchanged. The issuance schedule and the 21 million-coin supply cap would likewise remain unchanged. The proposed shorter interval therefore concerns confirmation timing, not a change to the reported issuance schedule or supply ceiling.
Testing and approval status
Developer tests involving 80 miners across 12 regions found orphan-block rates of 1.9% to 3.3% with 20-second blocks, depending on the software used.
At the time of the report, the change remained a proposal rather than an approved network upgrade.
Original publication: November 9, 2026, at 20:01:32 (UTC+8).
Source: Jinse Finance’s original report, citing CoinDesk.