Zcash has launched Zakura, a new full node client targeting payment network-scale transaction speeds of 50,000 transactions per second, matching Visa and Mastercard volumes while preserving privacy.

Zakura Node and Scaling Ambitions

Released on July 19, 2026, Zakura is a pruned, fast-syncing fork of Zebra node software, compatible with the legacy zcashd client, which is set to reach end of life on July 18. This software forms the foundation of a broader initiative to scale Zcash throughput from around one private transaction per second to tens of thousands per second.

The node supports the upcoming Ironwood (NU6.3) network upgrade scheduled for activation on July 28. Ironwood introduces a turnstile mechanism limiting withdrawals from the Orchard shielded pool, aiming to contain potential counterfeit ZEC linked to a longstanding soundness bug.

Zakura was developed independently of the Zcash Foundation by Sean Bowe, a founding cryptographer of Zcash, and Dev Ojha, cofounder of Osmosis and lead at Valar Group. Their work is funded via private ZEC donations rather than corporate or foundation backing.

Technical Features and Improvements

The team emphasizes that Zcash cryptography requires over 500 MB/s throughput from nodes to reach Visa-level transaction volumes. Current node implementations cannot handle this demand efficiently. Zakura addresses this by reducing verification data size and eliminating wallet performance bottlenecks.

Pruning functionality allows the node to discard unnecessary old blockchain data, significantly reducing disk space usage. The team provides pre-synced snapshots of the blockchain at approximately 11 gigabytes after pruning, enabling faster node setup by downloading these snapshots instead of the entire chain history.

  • Fast synchronization for quicker network joining
  • Compatibility with legacy zcashd client before its deprecation
  • Support for Ironwood upgrade features
  • Reduced storage needs via pruning and snapshots

The project complements related efforts like Project Tachyon and research on private information retrieval to improve Zcash’s scalability and privacy simultaneously.

material is informational, not a financial recommendation