Zcash extended its strong 2026 performance after developers agreed on a proposed activation height for the network’s NU7 upgrade, with the mainnet change now targeted for Nov. 5.
The privacy-focused cryptocurrency was trading near $1,270 on Wednesday, according to Cointelegraph, after gaining about 12% over 24 hours. Moneyiar market data later showed Zcash at $1,279.0284163522, up 12.36% over the same period and 2.89% over seven days, as of 10:59 a.m. on Oct. 21, 2026.
Zcash’s year-to-date gain has exceeded 148%, according to the source report. The latest move followed a proposal on Tuesday by Zcash developer Sean Bowe to establish block 3,543,405 as the activation point for NU7. The block is expected to be reached around Nov. 5.
What developers agreed
Bowe’s proposal said the activation height had been agreed during a ZIP editor meeting, referring to the process used to develop and document changes to Zcash. The proposal still requires the upgrade specifications to be finalized before it can be merged, while two developers have approved the changes so far.
The Zakura NU7 dashboard also shows the upgrade as pending on mainnet at block 3,543,405, with activation expected around the same date. That means the timing remains a target rather than a completed network change.
NU7 is designed to shorten Zcash’s target block interval from 75 seconds to 25 seconds. A block is a group of transactions added to a blockchain, and reducing the interval is intended to allow transactions to receive confirmations more quickly. The upgrade has been under testing since early October, including a testnet activation ahead of the planned mainnet rollout.
Remaining work before launch
The Zcash Foundation’s NU7 readiness tracker lists six of 12 tasks as complete. Work that remains includes addressing synchronization issues affecting Zebra nodes and completing preparations for the mainnet activation.
Zebra is a Zcash node implementation. Node synchronization is important because participating computers need to keep an up-to-date copy of the network’s blockchain and agree on its current state.
Developers have not confirmed whether the unfinished tasks could change the planned Nov. 5 activation date. Until the specifications are finalized and the outstanding preparation work is completed, the stated block height and timing remain subject to the project’s readiness process.
Zcash market picture
Moneyiar market data at 10:59 a.m. on Oct. 21, 2026, showed:
- Zcash (ZEC): $1,279.0284163522, up 12.36% over 24 hours and 2.89% over seven days.
- Velo (VELO): $0.0041990075, up 4.56% over 24 hours and down 8.86% over seven days.
- Ronin (RON): $0.0591331815, up 3.89% over 24 hours and down 7.53% over seven days.
Zcash uses zero-knowledge proofs, a cryptographic method that can verify a transaction without revealing all of the underlying information. The NU7 proposal concerns the network’s operating pace and rollout process, while the market reaction has so far accompanied the agreement on a potential mainnet activation height rather than a completed upgrade.
