Gemini Moves Zcash Nodes Ahead of Proposed 25-Second Block Spacing
The exchange says Zakura synchronized faster than Zebra as NU7 prepares to increase the pace of new Zcash blocks, pending testnet results.
Gemini has shifted its Zcash node infrastructure to Zakura ahead of NU7, a proposed upgrade that would cut target block spacing from 75 seconds to 25 seconds.
The exchange said Zakura reached the Zcash chain tip in a little more than six hours during its deployments, compared with nearly a day for Zebra, the software it previously used. A full synchronization benchmark lists about four hours and 20 minutes for Zakura, versus nearly 21 hours for Zebra.
The shorter interval would require nodes to process roughly three times as many blocks over the same period. That would increase the workload for node operators, exchanges, indexers and block explorers that follow and verify the network.
For exchanges, a node that falls behind can delay deposits and withdrawals while operators restore a current copy of the blockchain. Node synchronization is part of the infrastructure used to detect incoming transactions and update customer balances.
Zakura also supports pruned snapshots for node recovery. Gemini described the snapshots as about 12 gigabytes and roughly 680 times faster for bootstrapping a node than standard peer-to-peer synchronization.
Gemini has not published performance results showing how its Zakura deployment operates under the proposed 25-second target block spacing. The exchange said Zcash deposits and withdrawals will work exactly as before.
“Deposits and withdrawals will work exactly as before. All improvements are behind the scenes,” Gemini said.
The NU7 testnet activation is planned for Oct. 6. A final decision on mainnet activation is scheduled for Oct. 20, while the current target for mainnet activation is Nov. 5, subject to the testnet results.
The infrastructure move follows earlier coverage of Zcash’s planned NU7 upgrade, but it does not itself activate the protocol change.
