Zcash Is Running—Devs Want to Make It Faster
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Zcash targets November for NU7 mainnet upgrade with 25-second blocks
NU7 will cut Zcash block times to 25 seconds and preserve its halving schedule, with testnet activation planned for Oct. 6.
Protocol upgrade decouples consensus from execution to solve scaling bottlenecks
CTDG Dev Hub participant’s protocol upgrade decouples consensus from execution, allowing network nodes to reach agreement on blocks before transaction execution completes.
StandX has upgraded its Maker Uptime Program to SIP-5A, offering daily DUSD earnings and platform token rewards.
According to Foresight News, decentralized perpetual contract exchange StandX tweeted that its original Maker Uptime Program has completed its June 2026 reward distribution and has been officially upgraded to SIP-5A: Community Maker Yield. The upgraded SIP-5A will provide market makers with daily DUSD (real stablecoin yield) and StandX platform token rewards. Users only need to provide liquidity on the StandX order book (placing both buy and sell orders) to participate in the program; no funds need to be locked. Existing Maker Hours and rewards will be automatically continued.
The Zcash Ironwood upgrade will be deployed to the testnet tomorrow.
According to Foresight News , Zcash core developer Sean Bowe tweeted that the Ironwood upgrade will be deployed to the testnet tomorrow. He also stated that the Ironwood upgrade will be activated on the mainnet around July 21st. All consensus rule changes have been implemented and have undergone a period of auditing. The specification/ZIP has been released and is nearing its final state. According to a previous Foresight News report, Zcash core developer Sean Bowe tweeted that Ironwood will introduce a new shielded pool using the Orchard protocol. Simultaneously, the Orchard circuit will add a flag controllable by consensus rules, which can disable payments to other users within the pool (while retaining change) as a privacy protection mechanism. After the upgrade, old Orchard pools will enable this restriction and prohibit fund transfers to old pools by constraining valueBalance. New user payments must be made through the new pool, while migrating funds from the old pool to the new pool is encouraged. Furthermore, users can gradually prove that no fraudulent minting has occurred by migrating funds.
Aster: The first burn under the upgraded token economic model has been executed.
PANews reported on June 29th that Aster announced on its X platform that the first ASTER burn under its upgraded token economic model has been executed and is verifiable on-chain. Since June 17th, 2026, 99% of daily transaction fees have been used to repurchase 2,937,125.53 ASTER for stakers, and an equal number of ASTER have been burned from the team's allocation. Previous reports indicated that the Aster team had potentially burned 2.937 million ASTER, equivalent to approximately $1.85 million.
Ethereum devs to narrow 66 proposals tied to Hegotá upgrade
The Hegotá upgrade aims to introduce more native privacy for Ethereum applications.