Zcash Aims for Visa-Scale Speed — New Node Targets 50,000 Transactions/Sec
By John Nada·Jul 19, 2026·6 min read
Zcash's Zakura node aims for Visa-like transaction speeds, targeting 50,000 per second. This overhaul could redefine digital payments.
50,000 transactions per second. That's the level Zcash is ambitiously gunning for with its new node software, Zakura. This isn't just an incremental upgrade; it's a foundational shift aimed at catapulting Zcash into the realm of global payment giants like Visa and Mastercard. According to CoinDesk, Zakura achieves its blistering speed by pruning unnecessary data and employing fast-syncing techniques.
Zakura is a fork of Zebra and is maintained independently of the Zcash Foundation. It's not just another tech project; it's part of a larger vision to overhaul how Zcash handles transactions. Sean Bowe and Dev Ojha, funded by private ZEC donations, are the masterminds behind this audacious endeavor. The software is also compatible with the legacy zcashd client, which reached end-of-life status on July 18, ensuring continuity for wallets and exchanges.
The new node is designed to support Zcash's upcoming Ironwood (NU6.3) upgrade, set for activation on July 28. This upgrade introduces a critical 'turnstile' mechanism to cap withdrawals from the Orchard shielded pool, addressing an old soundness bug that could have allowed counterfeit ZEC creation.
Zcash developers aren't stopping at just speeding up transactions. They're also tackling the issue of wallet performance bottlenecks. Zcash's current cryptography demands over 500 MB/s throughput to match Visa-level speeds. With existing technology, that's akin to downloading a DVD every ten seconds — impractical for any blockchain.
To address this, Project Tachyon is working on recursive proofs, which reduce the data load dramatically. Instead of verifying thousands of individual proofs, a single proof will verify many, cutting the requirement to potentially achievable levels.
Wallets face another challenge: they can't simply query servers for their transactions without exposing their identities. Valar Group is developing private information retrieval (PIR) techniques to circumvent this, allowing users to fetch their data without compromising privacy.
Fast block propagation is another piece of the puzzle. Zakura aims to deliver new blocks across the network in under half a second, setting the stage for high-volume transaction processing. Though experimental for now, this feature is crucial for the ambitious transaction speeds envisioned.
The groundwork for these changes was laid in June when a flaw nearly unraveled Zcash. A bug in the Orchard shielded pool allowed potential counterfeit ZEC creation, prompting a swift emergency response and a subsequent upgrade in early June. Ironwood aims to rectify lingering issues by implementing turnstiles to trap any illegitimate coins, restoring the network's integrity.
The stakes are high, and the timeline is tight. With major organizations committed to the Ironwood activation at block 3,428,143, Zcash is on a path that could redefine its role in digital payments. If all goes as planned, Zakura may well be the catalyst that transforms Zcash from a niche privacy coin to a mainstream financial infrastructure.
Zakura is a new full node maintained independently of the Zcash Foundation, launching as a pruned, fast-syncing fork of Zebra. This software is not just a technical upgrade but a strategic move to reshape how Zcash handles transactions. By providing compatibility with the legacy zcashd client, which reached its end-of-life on July 18, Zakura ensures continuity and stability for users, wallets, and exchanges.
Sean Bowe, a founding figure in Zcash's zero-knowledge cryptography, and Dev Ojha, the co-founder of Osmosis and now leader of Valar Group, are the driving forces behind Zakura. Both are funded by private ZEC donations rather than by a corporate entity or foundation, highlighting the community-driven nature of this initiative.
A full node like Zakura is vital as it maintains a complete copy of the Zcash blockchain, verifying every transaction against the network's rules. By forking from Zebra, the Zcash Foundation's node software, Zakura reimagines the code to enhance transaction throughput significantly.
The pruning capability of Zakura reduces the size of the blockchain by deleting old data that is no longer necessary. This feature drastically cuts disk usage, making the node more efficient. New nodes can download a ready-made copy of the blockchain, approximately 11 gigabytes, instead of syncing from scratch, which speeds up setup time by 680 times.
The current cryptographic stack of Zcash requires over 500 MB/s throughput to handle Visa-like transaction volumes. Project Tachyon is key to bridging this gap by employing recursive proofs. These proofs allow a single verification to cover thousands of transactions, reducing the data load to levels that are technically feasible with precise engineering.
Wallets also encounter significant challenges due to the privacy-centric nature of Zcash. They cannot simply ask servers for their transactions without revealing their identities. To solve this, Valar Group is exploring private information retrieval techniques, enabling users to access their transaction data without the server knowing which entries were requested.
Fast block propagation is another critical aspect of Zakura. This feature ensures that newly mined blocks are broadcasted across the network swiftly, allowing high-volume transaction processing. Although this system is experimental and switched off by default, its success is crucial for achieving the desired transaction speeds.
The Ironwood upgrade, formally known as NU6.3, is a pivotal moment for Zcash. Set to activate on July 28 at block 3,428,143, this upgrade introduces 'turnstiles' to cap withdrawals from the Orchard shielded pool. This mechanism addresses a soundness bug that could have allowed counterfeit ZEC creation, thus maintaining the integrity of the Zcash network.
The emergency response to the flaw discovered in the Orchard shielded pool in May 2022 was swift. Developers disabled Orchard through an emergency response completed on June 2, followed by a corrected circuit via the NU6.2 hard fork on June 3. However, the patch could not account for the four years the flaw was present, as zero-knowledge proofs reveal nothing beyond the fact that they verified. Ironwood aims to ensure that any counterfeit coins created remain trapped within the shielded pool, thereby restoring the network's reliability.
The commitment from major organizations to the Ironwood activation height showcases the importance of this upgrade. While the timeline is tight, the groundwork laid by Zakura and the ongoing advancements with Project Tachyon and Valar Group's PIR research position Zcash to potentially redefine its role in the digital payments landscape.