.. Title: Specifications and Zcash Improvement Proposals
What are ZIPs?
Zcash Improvement Proposals (ZIPs) are the way to:
- propose new features for the
Zcash cryptocurrency <https://z.cash/>__ and their rationale,
- specify the implementation details of the feature,
- collect community input on the proposal, and
- document design decisions.
Contributing
The authors of a ZIP are responsible for building consensus within the community
and documenting / addressing dissenting opinions.
Anyone can write a ZIP! We encourage community contributions and decentralization
of work on the Zcash protocol. If you’d like to bounce ideas off people before formally
writing a ZIP, we encourage it!
Visit the Zcash Community Forum <https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/c/community-collaboration/7>__
to talk about your idea.
Participation in the Zcash project is subject to a Code of Conduct <https://github.com/zcash/zcash/blob/master/code_of_conduct.md>__.
The Zcash protocol is documented in its
Protocol Specification <rendered/protocol/protocol.pdf>__
(dark mode version) <rendered/protocol/protocol-dark.pdf>__.
To start contributing, first read ZIP 0 <zips/zip-0000.rst>__ which documents the ZIP process.
Then clone this repo <https://github.com/zcash/zips>__ from GitHub, and start adding
your draft ZIP, formatted either as reStructuredText or as Markdown, into the zips/ directory.
For example, if using reStructuredText, use a filename matching zips/draft-*.rst.
Use make to check that you are using correct
reStructuredText <https://docutils.sourceforge.io/rst.html>__ or
Markdown <https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#pandocs-markdown>__ syntax,
and double-check the generated rendered/draft-*.html file before filing a Pull Request.
See here <protocol/README.rst>__ for the project dependencies.
Settled Mainnet Network Upgrade
The most recent settled Network Upgrade
on Mainnet is NU6.1, which activated at Mainnet block height 3146400 on November 24, 2025, at
19:56 UTC.
NU6.1 is described in ZIP 255: Deployment of the NU6.1 Network Upgrade <zips/zip-0255.md>__.
It deployed the following ZIPs:
ZIP 1016: Community and Coinholder Funding Model <zips/zip-1016.md>__ZIP 271: Deferred Dev Fund Lockbox Disbursement <zips/zip-0271.md>__
NU7 Candidate ZIPs
The following ZIPs are under consideration for deployment in NU7:
ZIP 218: 25-second Block Target Spacing <zips/zip-0218.md>__ZIP 226: Transfer and Burn of Zcash Shielded Assets <zips/zip-0226.rst>__ZIP 227: Issuance of Zcash Shielded Assets <zips/zip-0227.rst>__ZIP 230: Version 6 Transaction Format <zips/zip-0230.rst>__ZIP 231: Memo Bundles <zips/zip-0231.md>__ZIP 233: Network Sustainability Mechanism: Removing Funds From Circulation <zips/zip-0233.md>__ZIP 234: Network Sustainability Mechanism: Issuance Smoothing <zips/zip-0234.md>__ZIP 235: Network Sustainability Mechanism: Remove 60% of Transaction Fees From Circulation <zips/zip-0235.md>__ZIP 246: Digests for the Version 6 Transaction Format <zips/zip-0246.rst>__ZIP 2002: Explicit Fees <zips/zip-2002.rst>__ZIP 2003: Disallow version 4 transactions <zips/zip-2003.rst>__
In addition, ZIP 317: Proportional Transfer Fee Mechanism <zips/zip-0317.rst>__
may be updated.
This list is only provided here for easy reference; no decision has been made
on whether to include each of these ZIPs.
draft-arya-deploy-nu7: Deployment of the NU7 Network Upgrade <zips/draft-arya-deploy-nu7.md>__
will define which ZIPs are included in NU7.
License
Unless otherwise stated in this repository’s individual files, the
contents of this repository are released under the terms of the MIT
license. See COPYING <COPYING.rst>__ for more information or see
https://opensource.org/licenses/MIT .
Released ZIPs
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Draft ZIPs
These are works-in-progress that have been assigned ZIP numbers. These will
eventually become either Proposed (and thus Released), or one of Withdrawn,
Rejected, or Obsolete.
In some cases a ZIP number is reserved by the ZIP Editors before a draft is
written.
.. raw:: html
Drafts without assigned ZIP numbers
These are works-in-progress, and may never be assigned ZIP numbers if their
ideas become obsoleted or abandoned. Do not assume that these drafts will exist
in perpetuity; instead assume that they will either move to a numbered ZIP, or
be deleted.
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Withdrawn, Rejected, or Obsolete ZIPs
.. raw:: html
Click to show/hide
Index of ZIPs
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| ZIP | Title | Status |
| 0 | ZIP Process | Active |
| 1 | Network Upgrade Policy and Scheduling | Reserved |
| 2 | Design Considerations for Network Upgrades | Reserved |
| 32 | Shielded Hierarchical Deterministic Wallets | Final |
| 48 | Transparent Multisig Wallets | Draft |
| 68 | Relative lock-time using consensus-enforced sequence numbers | Draft |
| 76 | Transaction Signature Validation before Overwinter | Reserved |
| 112 | CHECKSEQUENCEVERIFY | Draft |
| 113 | Median Time Past as endpoint for lock-time calculations | Draft |
| 129 | Zcash Transparent Multisig Setup | Reserved |
| 143 | Transaction Signature Validation for Overwinter | Final |
| 155 | addrv2 message | Proposed |
| 173 | Bech32 Format | Final |
| 200 | Network Upgrade Mechanism | Final |
| 201 | Network Peer Management for Overwinter | Final |
| 202 | Version 3 Transaction Format for Overwinter | Final |
| 203 | Transaction Expiry | Final |
| 204 | Zcash P2P Network Protocol | Draft |
| 205 | Deployment of the Sapling Network Upgrade | Final |
| 206 | Deployment of the Blossom Network Upgrade | Final |
| 207 | Funding Streams | [Revision 0: Canopy, Revision 1: NU6] Final |
| 208 | Shorter Block Target Spacing | Final |
| 209 | Prohibit Negative Shielded Chain Value Pool Balances | Final |
210 | Sapling Anchor Deduplication within Transactions | Withdrawn |
| 211 | Disabling Addition of New Value to the Sprout Chain Value Pool | Final |
| 212 | Allow Recipient to Derive Ephemeral Secret from Note Plaintext | Final |
| 213 | Shielded Coinbase | Final |
| 214 | Consensus rules for a Zcash Development Fund | [Revision 0: Canopy, Revision 1: NU6] Final, [Revision 2: NU6.1] Proposed |
| 215 | Explicitly Defining and Modifying Ed25519 Validation Rules | Final |
| 216 | Require Canonical Jubjub Point Encodings | Final |
| 217 | Aggregate Signatures | Reserved |
| 218 | 25-second Block Target Spacing | Draft |
| 219 | Disabling Addition of New Value to the Sapling Chain Value Pool | Reserved |
220 | Zcash Shielded Assets | Withdrawn |
| 221 | FlyClient - Consensus-Layer Changes | Final |
| 222 | Transparent Zcash Extensions | Draft |
| 224 | Orchard Shielded Protocol | Final |
| 225 | Version 5 Transaction Format | Final |
| 226 | Transfer and Burn of Zcash Shielded Assets | Draft |
| 227 | Issuance of Zcash Shielded Assets | Draft |
| 228 | Asset Swaps for Zcash Shielded Assets | Reserved |
230 | Withdrawn Version 6 Transaction Format | Withdrawn |
| 231 | Memo Bundles | Draft |
| 233 | Network Sustainability Mechanism: Removing Funds From Circulation | Draft |
| 234 | Network Sustainability Mechanism: Issuance Smoothing | Draft |
| 235 | Remove 60% of Transaction Fees From Circulation | Draft |
| 236 | Blocks should balance exactly | Final |
| 239 | Relay of Version 5 Transactions | Final |
| 240 | Standard Transaction Rules | Reserved |
| 243 | Transaction Signature Validation for Sapling | Final |
| 244 | Transaction Identifier Non-Malleability | Final |
| 245 | Transaction Identifier Digests & Signature Validation for Transparent Zcash Extensions | Draft |
| 246 | Digests for the Version 6 Transaction Format | Draft |
| 250 | Deployment of the Heartwood Network Upgrade | Final |
| 251 | Deployment of the Canopy Network Upgrade | Final |
| 252 | Deployment of the NU5 Network Upgrade | Final |
| 253 | Deployment of the NU6 Network Upgrade | Final |
254 | Deployment of the NU7 Network Upgrade (Withdrawn) | Withdrawn |
| 255 | Deployment of the NU6.1 Network Upgrade | Proposed |
| 260 | Extending Block Messages with Additional Authentication Data | Reserved |
| 270 | Key Rotation for Tracked Signing Keys | Reserved |
| 271 | Dev Fund Extension and One-Time Disbursement | Proposed |
| 300 | Cross-chain Atomic Transactions | Proposed |
| 301 | Zcash Stratum Protocol | Active |
| 302 | Standardized Memo Field Format | Draft |
303 | Sprout Payment Disclosure | Withdrawn |
| 304 | Sapling Address Signatures | Draft |
| 305 | Best Practices for Hardware Wallets supporting Sapling | Reserved |
| 306 | Security Considerations for Anchor Selection | Reserved |
| 307 | Light Client Protocol for Payment Detection | Draft |
| 308 | Sprout to Sapling Migration | Active |
| 309 | Blind Off-chain Lightweight Transactions (BOLT) | Reserved |
| 310 | Security Properties of Sapling Viewing Keys | Draft |
| 311 | Zcash Payment Disclosures | Draft |
| 312 | FROST for Spend Authorization Multisignatures | Draft |
313 | Reduce Conventional Transaction Fee to 1000 zatoshis | Obsolete |
| 314 | Privacy upgrades to the Zcash light client protocol | Reserved |
| 315 | Best Practices for Wallet Implementations | Draft |
| 316 | Unified Addresses and Unified Viewing Keys | [Revision 0] Active, [Revision 1] Withdrawn, [Revision 2] Draft |
| 317 | Proportional Transfer Fee Mechanism | Active |
| 319 | Options for Shielded Pool Retirement | Reserved |
| 320 | Defining an Address Type to which funds can only be sent from Transparent Addresses | Active |
| 321 | Payment Request URIs | Active |
| 322 | Generic Signed Message Format | Reserved |
| 323 | Specification of getblocktemplate for Zcash | Reserved |
| 324 | URI-Encapsulated Payments | Draft |
| 325 | Account Metadata Keys | Draft |
| 332 | Wallet Recovery from zcashd HD Seeds | Reserved |
| 339 | Wallet Recovery Words | Reserved |
| 350 | Bech32m | Reserved |
| 400 | Wallet.dat format | Draft |
| 401 | Addressing Mempool Denial-of-Service | Active |
| 402 | New Wallet Database Format | Reserved |
| 403 | Verification Behaviour of zcashd | Reserved |
| 416 | Support for Unified Addresses in zcashd | Reserved |
1001 | Keep the Block Distribution as Initially Defined — 90% to Miners | Obsolete |
1002 | Opt-in Donation Feature | Obsolete |
1003 | 20% Split Evenly Between the ECC and the Zcash Foundation, and a Voting System Mandate | Obsolete |
1004 | Miner-Directed Dev Fund | Obsolete |
1005 | Zcash Community Funding System | Obsolete |
1006 | Development Fund of 10% to a 2-of-3 Multisig with Community-Involved Third Entity | Obsolete |
1007 | Enforce Development Fund Commitments with a Legal Charter | Obsolete |
1008 | Fund ECC for Two More Years | Obsolete |
1009 | Five-Entity Strategic Council | Obsolete |
1010 | Compromise Dev Fund Proposal With Diverse Funding Streams | Obsolete |
1011 | Decentralize the Dev Fee | Obsolete |
1012 | Dev Fund to ECC + ZF + Major Grants | Obsolete |
1013 | Keep It Simple, Zcashers: 10% to ECC, 10% to ZF | Obsolete |
| 1014 | Establishing a Dev Fund for ECC, ZF, and Major Grants | Active |
| 1015 | Block Subsidy Allocation for Non-Direct Development Funding | Final |
| 1016 | Community and Coinholder Funding Model | Proposed |
| 2001 | Lockbox Funding Streams | Final |
| 2002 | Explicit Fees | Draft |
| 2003 | Disallow version 4 transactions | Draft |
| 2004 | Remove the dependency of consensus on note encryption | Draft |
| 2005 | Orchard Quantum Recoverability | Proposed |
| guide-markdown | {Something Short and To the Point} | Draft |
| guide | {Something Short and To the Point} | Draft |
| template | {Template for new ZIPs} | Draft |
