Zcash’s November upgrade could freeze funds in legacy Sprout pool
The proposed NU7 change would disable version 4 transactions, leaving ZEC in Zcash’s legacy Sprout shielded pool unspendable.
A recent proposal for Zcash's November upgrade could result in the freezing of funds within the legacy Sprout pool. This NU7 change would effectively disable version 4 transactions, rendering ZEC stored in the legacy Sprout shielded pool unusable. Zcash users with ZEC in the legacy Sprout pool are strongly advised to transfer their funds before the NU7 upgrade or risk losing access to their assets.
According to Zcash Improvement Proposal-2003, the NU7 upgrade will no longer accept the older transaction format, enabling users to spend Sprout funds. If left in the pool after the upgrade, ZEC would become unspendable. While the proposal does not burn Sprout funds, it warns that holders may never regain access to these funds. A Zcash Community Forum user urged ZEC holders to check their old wallets before the upgrade, as they may contain Sprout ZEC, transparent ZEC, or both.
Only funds in the Sprout pool are affected by the proposed restriction. Zcash co-founder Zooko Wilcox also shared the warning on X. The NU7 upgrade is scheduled to activate on testnet on October 6 and is expected to proceed to the mainnet activation on November 5. Additionally, the upgrade will decrease Zcash's target block time from 75 seconds to 25 seconds, while its planned changes to issuance would maintain the network's halving schedule.
As of the time of writing, ZEC was trading at $1,627.82, up 8% in the previous 24 hours and nearly 40% over the past week, according to CoinGecko.
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