Zcash developers Dev Ojha and Evan Forbes presented a proposal on Sunday to lower the target block interval from 25 seconds to 20 seconds. The proposal comes just three days after the network completed an upgrade that tripled block production speed. Before Friday's NU7 upgrade, the interval between new Zcash blocks was roughly 75 seconds.
Blocks group transactions for addition to the blockchain, and shorter intervals allow payments to receive an initial confirmation sooner. Under the proposal, a shop customer paying with ZEC could expect an initial confirmation after about 20 seconds instead of 25 seconds. An exchange requiring three confirmations could expect a 60-second wait instead of 75 seconds. Actual confirmation times fluctuate because miners find blocks at unpredictable intervals.
Early NU7 results have been encouraging despite developers' concerns that faster block production could waste more computing power on competing blocks. When miners find competing blocks almost simultaneously, the network ultimately retains one block and rejects the other. Rejected blocks, called orphans, leave the losing miner without a reward for the electricity spent. Shorter block intervals increase that risk by reducing the time available for miners to learn about other miners' discoveries.
ZecBlock's mining tracker measured a 0.69% orphan rate during the 24 hours ending early Monday, against approximately 0.66% before NU7. Ojha wrote on Monday, "The orphan rate has gotten better than I anticipated!" The orphan rate for the full period since NU7 was 1.29%, with readings falling after an initial spike. Shortly before NU7, ZecBlock expanded monitoring from one node to ten, allowing detection of some competing blocks previously missed. The monitoring change prevents an exact comparison of orphan rates before and after NU7.
Developers tested 20-second blocks separately using 80 miners distributed across 12 regions. The tests discarded between 1.9% and 3.3% of blocks, depending on the software. Earlier stress tests used to assess the safety of 25-second blocks had discarded 4.68%. The results suggest shorter confirmation times could be possible without a sharp rise in wasted mining work. However, simulations cannot guarantee equivalent performance on the live network.
The proposal would leave daily private transaction capacity unchanged. Developers plan to offset more frequent blocks by reducing the number of transactions allowed in each block, avoiding additional data processing for wallets. The proposal would retain Zcash's existing issuance schedule. The maximum supply would remain 21 million coins. Ojha and Forbes seek consideration in the next community poll and possible inclusion in the future NU7.1 upgrade. The proposal has not received approval, and no activation date has been set.
Zcash Developers Propose 20-Second Blocks After Recent Speed Upgrade
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Summary
Zcash developers Dev Ojha and Evan Forbes proposed a blockchain upgrade to cut block intervals from 25 to 20 seconds, just days after the NU7 network upgrade boosted block production speed. The move aims to reduce transaction confirmation times, with early tests showing a low orphan rate. Using 80 miners, developers observed fewer discarded blocks than in past stress tests. The proposal, which keeps Zcash’s supply and privacy features unchanged, awaits community approval and possible inclusion in the NU7.1 network upgrade.
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