Zcash (ZEC) recorded a sharp price increase, surging to $1,388 after coinholders finalized decisions on the protocol’s next major upgrade, known as NU7. ZEC is now trading at $1,368, representing a 10.9% daily gain and a 168% jump over the past 30 days. According to CoinGecko, the privacy-focused crypto now holds the ninth position by market capitalization, valued at $22.9 billion.
Record-setting coinholder vote for NU7
The upgrade process centered on a five-question poll open to eligible ZEC holders. The turnout reached 66%, which set a new high with 2.4 million ZEC votes cast. Eligibility for the vote was based on spendable shielded ZEC maintained in the Ironwood pool at block 3,459,350, recorded on August 24. Each shielded coin corresponded to a single vote.
The voting mechanism featured encrypted ballots, which were split into 16 unlinkable segments. This cryptographic method ensured that the aggregate results could be tallied without linking votes to individual coinholders or revealing the amount held by any participant.
Mini dictionary: Ironwood pool — A privacy-focused shielded Zcash pool introduced to offer stronger security and upgraded cryptographic features, replacing older pools like Sprout.
A significant majority, 98.9% of coinholders, voted to maintain Bitcoin-style block reward halvings instead of shifting to a smoother issuance schedule. The poll also approved 25-second block times, immediate deprecation of the obsolete Sprout pool, and prioritizing only features ready by September 30, effectively narrowing the upgrade scope.
| Upgrade Option | Coinholder Vote (%) | Panel Preference |
|---|---|---|
| Keep block reward halvings | 98.9 | Aligns |
| Faster 25-second blocks | Majority approved | N/A |
| Legacy Sprout pool deprecation | Majority approved | N/A |
| Network sustainability mechanism February 2031 | 96.6 | Panels preferred ASAP |
Network sustainability divides stakeholders
The question of when to activate the network sustainability mechanism—recycling transaction fees back to miners—sparked disagreement. While 96.6% of coinholders chose February 2031 as the start date, advisory panels advocated for immediate implementation.
Organizations including Shielded Labs, Project Tachyon, ZODL, the Zcash Foundation, and Valar Group have since voiced support for the February 2031 timeline, describing it as the most conservative approach in line with coinholder intent. However, they noted that future polling could revisit the question if needed.
Zcash is a privacy-centered cryptocurrency designed to enable shielded transactions using zero-knowledge proofs, which allow information to be verified without revealing sender, receiver or amount details.
Price surge driven by ETF listing
Over the past year, ZEC has posted gains exceeding 2,500%. Market observer Nasoi attributed part of this rapid appreciation to Grayscale’s recent ETF launch, which introduced new institutional access to Zcash.
ZEC’s remarkable price surge over the past year is linked by some analysts to Grayscale’s ETF, described as providing institutional investors “a route to Zcash that didn’t exist before.”
