Zcash's new reserve for future block rewards is almost entirely inherited value. An early post-NU7 snapshot shows just 1.12 ZEC accumulated under the new rules, and the reserve's future support depends on fee demand.
About 99.7% of the reserve's balance in an early post-NU7 mainnet observation on November 7, 2026, came from previously unclaimed subsidy and fees. That leaves just 1.12 ZEC accumulated under the new rules.
At 05:08:38 UTC, the mainnet API for Zakura's NU7 monitoring dashboard reported a Network Sustainability Mechanism (NSM) balance of 369.7 ZEC at block 3,547,068. ZIP 237, the specification governing the reserve, sets the historical seed at 368.58445520 ZEC. Subtracting that seed leaves 1.11895065 ZEC of subsequent accumulation, or about 0.3% of the observed total.
Where the seed and the new fees come from
The historical seed consists of subsidy and transaction fees that miners left unclaimed in coinbase transactions before NU6. Because of this, the mechanism starts with a positive balance before any new fee contribution arrives.
Under the NU7 rules, transaction fees are the reserve's only contribution mechanism, and there is no reserve reissuance at the observed height. Taken together, those rules mean the excess over the seed represents accumulated fee contributions under the specified accounting.
ZIP 235 directs 60% of each block's aggregate transaction fees into the NSM. The contribution is rounded down once per block to whole zatoshi, and miners receive the remainder.
Payouts start at block 8,939,664
The delay is substantial in block terms. ZIP 259 assigns mainnet activation to block 3,543,405, while reserve reissuance starts at block 8,939,664.
Once reissuance starts, each block adds a small fraction of the preceding reserve balance to the scheduled block reward, rounded up to a zatoshi. The existing halving schedule remains in place.
Before then, the fee-funded portion grows with cumulative fee spending. The opening snapshot cannot establish a sustainable annual funding rate, predict future usage or show whether eventual support will be sufficient for network security.
Source: CryptoSlate
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