Zcash Maintains Bitcoin-Style Halving in 98.9% Holders' Vote

Zcash (ZEC) has secured 98.9% support in a holder-weighted vote to maintain its current Bitcoin-style halving system for the upcoming NU7 network upgrade. Meanwhile, the Zcash Community Advisory Panel (ZCAP) narrowly passed a proposal to gradually reduce emissions by 57-54 votes.

The Zcash Foundation announced the ZCAP results on September 14, with community forum posts revealing the holder vote outcome the same day. The holder vote saw 2.4 million ZEC participating in a turnout of 66% of the 3.6 million eligible supply. For the halving retention proposal, 2.375932375 million ZEC voted yes, while the emission reduction plan received 22,384.875 ZEC.

ZCAP voting saw 135 of 198 qualified voters participate (68% turnout), with the emission reduction proposal securing 57 votes to 54 for halving retention. The holder vote aligns with a previously proposed halving retention plan combined with introducing 25-second blocks, though both votes produced different results due to differing voting mechanisms.

The ZCAP also voted on the NSM reissuance timeline, where 'as soon as possible' received 101 of 203 votes, but the holder vote overwhelmingly supported a February 2031 start (96.6% with 2.31964375 million ZEC). Shielded Labs, Project Tachyon, ZODL, Zcash Foundation and Valar Group agreed to adopt February 2031 as the timeline, describing it as 'the most conservative interpretation' of the results.

The emission reduction plan is documented in ZIP 234, which proposes issuing a certain percentage of unissued supply instead of halving block rewards every four years. This aims to smooth the supply curve and prevent sharp reductions in mining rewards that could lower short-term participation. The maximum ZEC supply of 21 million remains unchanged under this proposal.

With the emission reduction plan not selected by holder vote, the existing halving design will be maintained for NU7. However, the ZCAP vote showed a narrow majority supporting emission structure changes within the advisory body. Other technical proposals including ZIP 218 (reducing block target interval from 75 seconds to 25 seconds) and discontinuing Sprout version 4 transactions are also planned for inclusion in NU7.

The votes served as community sentiment checks on network upgrade features and emission policies, though results don't immediately implement proposals. The Zcash Foundation will determine which features to include in NU7 by September 30 based on implementable functionality. Both ZIP 218 and ZIP 234 remain in draft form, requiring further implementation, review, and network activation procedures before actual adoption.