The Zcash network was preparing on Nov. 5 to activate its NU7 upgrade at block 3,543,405, ending support for its oldest shielded pool, Sprout. About 12,225.69 ZEC, worth an estimated $16 million, remained in the pool that morning and could become unspendable once the change takes effect.

According to ZecStats, the remaining balance was substantially lower than a week earlier, although some holders had not moved their funds before the scheduled activation.

About 10,000 ZEC withdrawn in a week

ZecStats historical data showed that Sprout held about 22,263 ZEC roughly a week earlier. By the morning of Thursday, Nov. 5, the balance had fallen to about 12,226 ZEC.

The largest outflow occurred on Sunday, when about 9,094 ZEC was withdrawn. Movement on Wednesday totaled only about 40 ZEC.

Sprout, launched with Zcash in October 2016, is the network’s oldest shielded pool. It allows users to hide the sender, recipient and transaction amount, but Zcash later replaced the technology with newer private-transfer systems.

The remaining coins were worth about $16 million based on a ZEC price of $1,300. Public data cannot identify the owners or determine how much of the balance is held in wallets whose private keys have been lost. Sprout addresses begin with “zc,” which may help users of older wallets determine whether the upgrade affects them.

At the time of writing, ZEC traded near $1,319, according to TradingView.

Why Sprout funds will become unspendable

Under the ZIP 2003 specification, the network will reject all version 4 transactions after NU7 activates. Version 4 is the only transaction format that allows users to spend funds from Sprout, meaning coins left in the pool at activation will become unspendable even if their owners retain the private keys.

ZecStats showed the network approaching the activation block at 08:43 UTC on Nov. 5. The tracker estimated activation at 21:35 Eastern Time, with a projected window from 20:45 to 22:20 ET. The timing could change depending on the network’s actual block-production rate.

The Sprout balance will not be burned or removed from ZEC’s total supply. ZIP 2003 says a future network upgrade could potentially restore access, although that option may never return.

Ending Sprout support is also expected to reduce complexity and potential security risks in Zcash software. NU7 reduces the target interval between blocks from 75 seconds to 25 seconds, which should accelerate block production and shorten confirmation waits. The Zcash team set the upgrade date in October and said the change would triple transaction speeds.

Zcash economics and mining

Bankless co-founder David Hoffman compared ZEC’s position in 2026 with Ethereum’s in 2021, calling it a new “center of gravity” for some bitcoin investors as the market discussed Zcash as both an alternative to bitcoin and a potential destination for rotating crypto capital.

Zcash co-founder Sean Bowe also proposed ending automatic funding for Zcash Community Grants and redirecting the corresponding 8% block reward to a network sustainability mechanism.

According to Grayscale’s estimate, ZEC mining became about four times more profitable than bitcoin mining per megawatt-hour, helping drive growth in the Zcash network’s hash rate. Zcash miners’ total daily rewards nevertheless remained substantially below bitcoin’s, at about $2 million compared with $35 million.

Source: Incrypted