Zcash Developers Propose 20-Sec Block as ZEC Price Faces Selling Pressure

• Zcash developers propose reducing block times from 25 to 20 seconds.
• The upgrade maintains daily ZEC issuance and transaction capacity.
• Meanwhile, ZEC price drops 3.80% to $1,215 as selling pressure intensifies.

Zcash (ZEC) developers are proposing to speed up the network by reducing the time between blocks from 25 seconds to 20 seconds. The goal is to deliver faster transaction confirmations for everyday payments, exchange deposits, withdrawals, and transfers between blockchains.

The proposal builds on an earlier upgrade called NU7, which reduced block times from 75 seconds to 25 seconds. Developers now want to introduce the next reduction through the planned NU7.1 upgrade.

However, the proposed improvement comes as ZEC faces selling pressure. The coin fell 3.80% to $1,215 in 24 hours, underperforming Bitcoin, which dropped 2.02%.

Why Zcash Wants 20-Second Blocks

Currently, users wait up to 25 seconds for a transaction to enter a block and receive its first confirmation. Reducing that time to 20 seconds will improve transaction speeds and make Zcash more practical for:

• Everyday payments in shops.
• Deposits and withdrawals on crypto exchanges.
• Transfers between different blockchains.

Developers say the previous 25-second target was never intended to be the final goal. They want Zcash to become more practical as digital cash.

Could Faster Blocks Cause Problems?

One concern surrounding shorter block times is the increase in competing blocks. This happens when two miners produce blocks before receiving information about each other’s work. Some competing blocks get rejected, creating what is known as orphan blocks.

To evaluate the safety of 20-second blocks, developers tested an 80-miner network spread across 12 locations worldwide.

The results were:

• 1.9% orphan rate when all miners used Zakura nodes.
• 3.3% orphan rate when miners used a 50/50 mix of Zakura and Zebra-Andele.

Developers say both results fall within the safety limits previously established for the 25-second block time.

The proposal requires approval through Zcash’s community governance process.

Faster Blocks Will Not Increase ZEC Supply

Reducing block times will not increase the amount of ZEC created each day. Developers plan to adjust other network settings to maintain the current issuance rate.

These adjustments include:

• The reward per block will decrease by 20%.
• The halving interval will increase from 5,040,000 to 6,300,000 blocks.
• Daily shielded transaction capacity will remain unchanged.
• The maximum block size will stay at 2MB.

Related: Zcash Is Still 78% Below Its 2016 Peak — Can ZEC Reclaim $5,941?

These adjustments will prevent faster blocks from increasing the amount of data wallets must download and process.

In simple terms, Zcash aims to deliver faster transaction confirmations without increasing the network’s overall daily workload or ZEC issuance.

ZEC Price Falls Despite the Network Upgrade

Despite the planned improvements, ZEC has dropped nearly 4% amid market pressure, driven by caution ahead of the US inflation report and an RSI of 47.19, signaling neutral momentum.

If ZEC holds above $1,180, the price will have a stronger foundation for stabilization. A break below that level will expose $1,120 as the next downside target.

Will Faster Transactions Increase ZEC’s Price?

Not necessarily. Reducing block times makes Zcash more attractive for payments. But faster transactions alone do not guarantee increased demand for ZEC. For the upgrade to meaningfully impact ZEC’s value, it must attract more users and businesses to the network.

Ultimately, stronger network adoption will be essential to translating faster transactions into greater demand for ZEC.