"Achieving Visa-scale privacy is within reach," said a blockchain developer following the launch of Zcash's new node designed to process up to 50,000 shielded transactions per second (TPS). This marks a dramatic leap from the current throughput of 3 to 20 TPS, positioning Zcash to compete with major payment networks in transaction speed while maintaining strong privacy guarantees.
The upgrade depends on two major projects: Project Tachyon and the NU7 network update. Project Tachyon, led by cryptographer Sean Bowe, aims first to reach an interim target of 10,000 TPS for shielded transactions before scaling toward the ultimate goal of 50,000 TPS. The NU7 testnet, which launched on May 22, 2026, has already demonstrated promising gains by reducing block times from 75 seconds to 25 seconds, while doubling shielded transaction throughput compared to previous benchmarks. Together, these initiatives could enable a 300% increase in transaction speed, a significant improvement in handling private transactions that rely on computationally intensive zk-SNARK cryptography.
These advancements build on prior iterative enhancements such as the Sapling and Orchard shielded pools, which progressively lowered the complexity and cost of private transactions. The new node software, Zebra, rewritten in Rust, underpins these protocol changes by optimizing performance without requiring more powerful hardware. About 30% of Zcash’s total supply now resides in the shielded pool, reflecting growing user adoption alongside the development progress. The Zcash Foundation bolstered this trajectory by raising $25 million in March 2026, reinforcing funding for ongoing upgrades.
However, Zcash’s progress faced a setback in early June 2026 when a critical vulnerability surfaced and was swiftly patched, causing ZEC’s price to plunge nearly 48%. This incident raised concerns about network security amid the scaling efforts. Competition with Monero, a leading privacy coin, remains intense as both projects seek dominance in the privacy-focused blockchain space.
