Zcash Drops 7.1% as Devs Propose Cutting Block Time to 20 Seconds

Zcash (ZEC) fell 7.1% over the past 24 hours to trade at $1,171.80, according to CoinGecko data on November 10 at 19:15 UTC. The decline came as network developers proposed reducing the target block time from 25 seconds to 20 seconds in a follow-on upgrade. 

The 24-hour trading range stood between $1,159.76 and $1,266.72. Market capitalization was approximately $19.96 billion, with 24-hour trading volume at $1.13 billion. 

According to CoinGlass Liquidation data on November 10 at 19:15 UTC, it showed $17.89 million in total liquidations over 24 hours, of which $15.86 million involved long positions and $2.03 million involved short positions. The market liquidation status was recorded as mostly long liquidations.

Proposal details to lower the block target spacing

Developers submitted a draft ZIP to lower the block target spacing from 25 seconds to 20 seconds. The change is described as latency-only and is intended for inclusion in NU7.1 following a network poll. It builds directly on ZIP 218, which reduced block times from 75 seconds to 25 seconds. 

The proposal keeps the 2 MB block size limit. Shielded action limits would be scaled by four-fifths to maintain the same daily maximum load on light wallets. Global shielded budget, Orchard actions per block, and Ironwood actions per block would move from 330 to 264. Sapling inputs plus outputs per block would move from 300 to 240. 

Issuance parameters would adjust proportionally so that daily subsidy, reissuance rates, and related timings remain equivalent in wall-clock terms. The recommended anchor depth would stay at three blocks, shortening the associated time from 75 seconds to 60 seconds. Default transaction expiry and certain node parameters would also scale with the new interval.

Technical rationale and testing

The stated motivation matches that of the earlier reduction: every transaction must wait for block inclusion, which adds delay for point-of-sale payments, exchange deposits, and cross-chain activity. Faster base-layer blocks are presented as complementary to other finality work under development. 

Stress-net measurements on an 80-miner network distributed across 12 regions tested full 2 MB blocks at the 20-second interval. Results showed a 1.9% orphan rate on a Zakura-only network and a 3.3% orphan rate on a mixed Zakura/Zebra-Andele network. These figures sit below the orphan rates recorded in the original testing that supported the move to 25-second blocks. 

The proposal notes that mainnet conditions are expected to produce lower orphan rates than the geographically dispersed test network because of the actual distribution of mining hashrate is lower.

Bandwidth requirements under maximum load would rise by about 25%, described as remaining within modest limits for node operation. No material increase in CPU requirements is projected relative to ongoing software improvements.

Context from NU7 activation

The NU7 network upgrade activated at block height 3,543,405 on November 6. It reduced target block times from 75 seconds to 25 seconds, introduced the Network Sustainability Mechanism that directs 60% of transaction fees toward future block rewards and network support, and lowered the computational resources required for wallets to detect private payments. 

Developers described the 25-second interval as an intermediate step rather than a final target. The new proposal positions the move to 20 seconds as the subsequent adjustment, timed for a comparatively small follow-on upgrade.

The combination of the technical proposal and the observed price movement occurred within days of the NU7 activation that first delivered the reduction to 25-second blocks.

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