Zcash Holders Race to Move 12,200 ZEC Out of Sprout Before the NU7 Upgrade Locks It

A group of early Zcash holders has just hours left to rescue roughly $16 million from the network’s oldest shielded pool. Once the NU7 upgrade goes live, any coins still sitting in Sprout cannot be spent, even by people who hold the correct keys.

Zcash Sprout Pool Balance Drops Sharply

Data from ZecStats shows about 12,226 ZEC still in Sprout on Thursday morning, compared with around 22,263 a week earlier. The biggest exit happened Sunday, when roughly 9,094 ZEC left, while only 40 moved on Wednesday. At $1,300 per coin, what remains is worth about $16 million. Sprout started with the network in October 2016 and has since been replaced by newer pools.

When the NU7 Upgrade Activates

NU7 is set for block 3,543,405. Blockchair put the chain at block 3,542,391 at 05:24 UTC, which leaves about 21 hours at one block every 75 seconds, or roughly 9:30 p.m. ET. Slower or faster mining could move that into early Friday in Asia.

Why Sprout Coins Become Unspendable

The upgrade rejects version 4 transactions, the only format able to spend Sprout funds, according to ZIP 2003. Addresses in this pool begin with “zc,” which helps owners check old wallets. The public balance cannot show who owns the coins or how many belong to lost keys.

What Happens to the Frozen Coins

The coins stay in the issued supply. ZIP 2003 leaves room for a future upgrade to restore access, but warns spending may never return. Dropping Sprout also removes old code that adds complexity and security risk. NU7 also cuts block time from 75 seconds to 25.