Zcash has become one of the most closely watched altcoins of the weekend after its NU7 network upgrade went live, even as the wider cryptocurrency market barely moved. The upgrade activated at block 3,543,405 at 02:34 UTC on 6 November, and it changes how the network works rather than simply adding a new product.

The headline change cuts the target time between blocks from 75 seconds to 25 seconds, so transactions confirm roughly three times faster. NU7 also introduces a Network Sustainability Mechanism that directs 60% of transaction fees into a reserve for future mining rewards, with reissuance planned from February 2031, while the 21 million coin supply cap stays unchanged. Legacy version 4 transactions were retired, leaving 12,224 ZEC in the old Sprout pool unspendable.

The market reaction has been volatile. ZEC rose 7.3% to $1,374.92 on activation day while Bitcoin and Ethereum fell, then slipped back to about $1,256 by the next morning. By Sunday it was trading near $1,270, down around 4.5% in 24 hours, with a market capitalisation of about $21.5 billion. Almost a third of the supply, 4.99 million ZEC, sat in shielded pools as of 7 November.

The contrast with the rest of the market is sharp. Bitcoin traded near $75,900 on Sunday in a narrow $75,571 to $76,250 range, while Ethereum slipped 0.5% to $2,232, Solana fell 1.3% to $88.94 and XRP eased 0.6% to $1.16. Total cryptocurrency market capitalisation stood at $2.56 trillion, with Bitcoin accounting for 59.3% of it. The weekend shows that a successful technical upgrade and a rising token price are separate outcomes: NU7 strengthens the network, but demand for ZEC still has to prove itself. OneTrader's Sunday market report has the full snapshot.