01
Zcash just activated its biggest network upgrade in years, called NU7.
02
Target block time dropped from 75 seconds to 25 seconds, three times faster.
03
A typical first payment confirmation now takes about 25 seconds instead of 75.
04
Exchanges that wait for three confirmations now wait about 75 seconds, not 4 minutes.
05
The upgrade also disabled old version-4 transactions network-wide.
06
That froze roughly 22,000 ZEC still sitting in Sprout, Zcash's original 2016 privacy pool.
07
Sprout funds are now unspendable; transparent, Sapling, and Orchard balances are unaffected.
08
ZEC jumped about 12% in late October when the activation block height was finalized.