Zebra 7.0.0: NU7 Activates at Block 3,543,405
The Zcash Foundation released Zebra 7.0.0 on October 22. It is the first stable release with NU7 on mainnet. Activation is set for height 3,543,405, expected around November 5 (ZIP PR #1405, merged Oct 21). Every mainnet node operator must upgrade before then to stay on the consensus chain.
What NU7 changes:
- 25-second blocks (ZIP 218), down from 75. Average first-confirmation wait drops by about two-thirds. Daily issuance stays the same: block rewards are divided by three and the remaining halving intervals are tripled.
- Network Sustainability Mechanism (ZIP 235). 60% of each block's fees go into a reserve that later blocks will slowly reissue, and miners keep 40%.
- New per-block shielded limits. Orchard throughput more than doubles (2.9 to 6.6 TPS), and the worst-case sync bandwidth a spammer can push onto light wallets drops by about 37%.
- No more Sprout spends. Version 4 transactions become invalid, so funds left in Sprout can no longer be moved.
The release also fixes syncing near the chain tip and seven security advisories. Zakura 1.7.0 shipped the same day (crates.io), and the librustzcash stack went stable on October 21 (details below).
David Campbell Named Zcash Foundation Executive Director
Alex Bornstein is stepping down after five years at ZF, first as COO and then as Executive Director from March 2025. His post drew 123 likes, the most of any forum thread this week. He stays on in a transition role through January 2027. The ZF board appointed David Campbell to replace him. Campbell founded the security firm Electric Alchemy, was founding CEO of JumpCloud, and was CSO at SendGrid through its IPO. He has been in Zcash since 2018, including four years as COO at what became Electric Coin Company.
ZODL Ends Support for the Original Mobile SDKs at NU7
ZODL announced that version 4.0.0 is the last planned release of the MIT-licensed Zcash Android and Swift SDKs. Support ends when NU7 activates. Development moves to the ZODL Android and Swift SDKs and ZODL Slipstream, licensed AGPL-3.0-only, with commercial licenses available separately. Wallets built on the old SDKs can keep using and maintaining that code themselves, but they won't get NU7 updates from ZODL.
ZCG Approves Konclave and a Bolivian University Program
At its October 23 meeting, ZCG approved Konclave (moving vault viewing keys onto members' devices) and BlockivIA's five-week program at two Bolivian universities. It declined ten applications, including Zecboat Wake-v1, ZEC Order Pay, the Private Receive Bridge, ZEBL Cape Town, BuildPath India and Zcash @BlockchainLife. Interoperable FROST co-signing, zreceipt and the Chinese Onboarding Pack remain open.