Zcash developers Dev Ojha and Evan Forbes have proposed reducing the network’s target block interval from 25 seconds to 20 seconds, according to a November 9, 2026, Jinse Finance report citing CoinDesk. The proposal had not been approved and had no confirmed activation date.
The change was slated for discussion at the next community vote and could be included in a future NU7.1 upgrade. Zcash had just reduced its target block interval from 75 seconds to 25 seconds in the NU7 upgrade.
What the proposal would change
With a 20-second target interval, the expected wait for three transaction confirmations would fall from 75 seconds to 60 seconds. Actual waiting times would still vary.
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. Orphan blocks are blocks that do not become part of the main chain.
The proposal would also reduce shielded-transaction capacity per block to keep daily capacity unchanged despite the faster block production. The issuance schedule and 21 million-coin supply cap would remain unchanged.
Original publication: November 9, 2026, at 20:01:32 (UTC+8).
Source: Jinse Finance, citing CoinDesk.