The Zcash community has proposed the NU8 upgrade plan, with plans to raise the block size limit to 8MB by the end of next January.

Zcash community member ValarDragon has posted on the official community forum a series of proposals for the NU8 network upgrade, suggesting a target completion date of the end of January 2027. Key proposals include launching the Tachyon shielded pool, expanding transaction formats, increasing the maximum block size from 2MB to 8MB, and adding transparent transaction opcodes supporting post-quantum cryptography. Additional proposals include adjusting the NSM redistribution date to align with Zcash’s seventh halving, setting a protocol-level date for Sapling to stop accepting new deposits while retaining support for transactions and withdrawals, and eliminating the Consensus Branch ID that requires updates for every network upgrade to reduce wallet compatibility issues. ValarDragon noted that combining Tachyon with larger block capacity is expected to deliver around 200 TPS in shielded transaction throughput. Additionally, the post-quantum transparent transaction feature will introduce SPHINCS-based 128-bit and 192-bit security level schemes. The above proposals are currently conceptualized by community members; their actual implementation will depend on development progress and subsequent discussions and votes on NU8.