TL;DR
- Zcash holders have less than a day to move about 12,226 ZEC from Sprout before NU7 makes remaining balances unspendable under the upgraded rules.
- ZecStats values the legacy pool near $16 million, while more than 10,000 ZEC has already left Sprout over the previous week.
- NU7 activates on mainnet today at block 3,543,405, disables version-4 transactions and reduces target block times from 75 seconds to 25 seconds.
Zcash holders have less than a day to move funds from Sprout before the NU7 upgrade makes balances in the network’s oldest shielded pool unspendable under the new rules. ZecStats data showed about 12,226 ZEC remaining in Sprout, worth $16 million at recent prices. The deadline affects only funds still held in the legacy Sprout pool, adding urgency for users of Zcash with older private addresses.
NU7 Will Disable Spending From the Sprout Pool
NU7 is scheduled to activate at block 3,543,405. ZecStats showed the chain at block 3,542,572 around 09:09 UTC on November 5, leaving roughly 833 blocks before activation. With Zcash still targeting 75-second blocks before the upgrade, that implied an activation window later Thursday, although actual timing depends on block production. Users must move Sprout balances before activation rather than relying on a fixed clock deadline, reinforcing the earlier warning for Sprout holders.
The remaining balance has already fallen sharply. About 22,263 ZEC sat in Sprout one week earlier, meaning more than 10,000 ZEC left the pool before the final day. Roughly 9,094 ZEC moved out on Sunday alone, while only around 40 ZEC left Wednesday. The public balance shows migration activity but cannot identify individual owners or determine whether some remaining keys have been lost, as the NU7 activation countdown reaches its final stage.
NU7 will reject version-4 transactions, the transaction format required to spend coins from Sprout. Funds left behind will remain part of Zcash’s issued supply rather than being burned, but holders will no longer be able to spend them under the upgraded consensus rules. A future network upgrade could theoretically restore access, although that outcome is not guaranteed. The practical risk is loss of spendability, not deletion of the ZEC balance, while the network proceeds with broader NU7 protocol changes.
Retiring Sprout removes older transaction machinery that adds software complexity and security risk despite limited remaining use. NU7 will also reduce Zcash’s target block interval from 75 seconds to 25 seconds, shortening expected confirmation times while adjusting block rewards to preserve the issuance schedule. The Sprout shutdown is therefore one component of a wider network modernization rather than a standalone asset freeze. Holders with legacy funds face the immediate task of migrating them before block 3,543,405 as developers complete security preparations for NU7.
