Zcash holders back 25-second blocks, vote to keep ZEC halving schedule

Zcash token holders backed cutting the network’s target block time to 25 seconds from 75 seconds and preserving its existing halving schedule in a poll on the next major upgrade.

The faster-block proposal received 99.9% of the Zcash (ZEC)-weighted vote, while 98.9% supported keeping halvings, according to results published Monday. Voting power reflected eligible ZEC holdings, with both percentages including abstentions.

The shorter interval would reduce the expected wait for a transaction’s first confirmation, according to the proposal. The amount of new ZEC issued per block would fall to keep scheduled daily issuance unchanged.

The changes are proposed for NU7, a Zcash network upgrade whose activation date remains undetermined. Token holders also favored excluding features not implemented by Sept. 30.

Results of the NU7 sentiment poll. Source: forum.zcashcommunity.com 

The coinholder vote was separate from polls of ZecHub, the Zcash Community Advisory Panel and other community groups. Eligibility was limited to spendable ZEC in the Ironwood shielded pool at the voting snapshot. Developers plan to ship the final items for the upgrade by the Sept. 30 cut-off deadline, with testnet and mainnet activation not yet determined.