ZEC Surges Toward $1,300 as Zcash’s Major Upgrade Approaches

ZEC surges toward $1,300 as Zcash’s major upgrade approaches. The upgrade is called NU7, short for Network Upgrade 7. 

Developers merged its mainnet activation height, block 3,543,405, in a GitHub proposal at 20:06 UTC on 21 October 2026. Activation is expected around 5 November.

What Is NU7?

NU7 cuts Zcash’s target block time from 75 seconds to 25 seconds. Payments should confirm about three times faster. 

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It also adds a Network Sustainability Mechanism, which sends 60% of transaction fees to a protocol balance and the rest to miners. 

Fee splits are a live topic across chains, as Bitcoin mining pools could hide payout addresses without a soft fork. 

NU7 also retires Sprout, Zcash’s oldest privacy pool. ZEC left in Sprout cannot move after activation. The upgrade has run on testnet since about 6 October.

Why Did ZEC Jump?

ZEC rose about 12% to 13% in the 24 hours to 21 October. The activation height gave traders a fixed date. 

Derivatives played a part, since a short squeeze forced bearish traders to buy back. Shielded holdings also grew, from about 26% to 29% of supply. 

Protocol changes draw attention elsewhere too, as Bitcoin Core 32 quietly changes how wallets build PSBTs.

ZEC Pulls Back From Its Peak

At about 09:35 UTC on 22 October 2026, ZEC traded at $1,272.43. That is up 14.6% over seven days. The BTC pair stood at 0.01554397. The seven-day chart opens near $1,110 on 16 October. 

Price climbed to about $1,235 that day, then slid to $1,150 on 17 October. ZEC hit a low near $1,055 on 19 October. 

A rebound followed, and a strong rally on 21 October carried price to a peak near $1,360 early on 22 October. Sellers then took profits, and price eased back to the current level.

Risks Before Activation Day

The date is a target, not a promise. Developers still need to finalize specifications and node software, and the Zebra stable release is waiting on fixes. Traders may also sell the news once activation arrives. Another milestone follows. 

Zcash developers target post-quantum signatures for January 2027, as Bitcoin developers work on a post-quantum upgrade of their own. Until then, the countdown to 5 November will keep ZEC in focus.

Disclaimer:
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, investment, or trading advice. The views expressed are based on publicly available data, market observations, and the author’s interpretation at the time of writing. Cryptocurrency markets are highly volatile and unpredictable, and past performance or current technical setups do not guarantee future results. Readers should conduct their own research and consult with a qualified financial advisor before making any investment decisions. TechGaged does not accept liability for any losses incurred based on the information presented.