The people building Zcash are working on putting part of their planned expansion into the system that currently runs the network, ready for a time when private payments move much faster. This addition is known as Udon, and it begins the journey toward supporting more than 50,000 private payments every second. The plan calls for a combined proof that joins together validations from multiple payments, which would reduce the volume of data each computer node has to accept and examine.
What Udon Does
Zakura Common, the shared cryptography library used by Zakura and other Zcash projects, received Udon on Monday. The component first emerged as part of Project Tachyon, Zcash’s proposed upgrade. Project Tachyon leader Sean Bowe explained the deployment, pointing out that Bowe’s team and Dev Ojha’s Valar Group works alongside him on Zakura’s development.
Some of the heavy mathematical work behind creating and checking private transactions falls to Common. When a Zcash wallet makes a private payment, it must prove the payment’s validity without disclosing who paid whom or how much. The computers running the network then verify that proof.
Common now holds some of the calculations needed for Tachyon’s proposed upgrade, which lets developers build on code they have already made faster. The upgrade has not been turned on in Zcash yet.
Earlier Improvements
CoinDesk reported in August that earlier improvements to Common reduced the time required to produce a single private transaction from over three seconds to below 200 milliseconds in certain tests.
At present, private payments occur at a rate of about one every seven seconds on average. The current pace falls well short of the target, and the distance between where Zcash stands now and its goal remains considerable.
The Target and the Problem
The pair behind the project has set a long-term goal of processing more than 50,000 payments per second. Their calculations show that at that pace, current cryptography would push each Zcash node to take in more than 500 megabytes of data every second.
More private payments mean a larger volume of data for the computers to process. Tachyon aims to join together proofs from multiple payments, which would reduce what the nodes need to accept and examine.
Bowe’s team is putting together a combined proof using code they have already made faster in Common, since that kind of creation takes more memory.
Where Private Payments Stand Now
Over recent weeks, daily transactions involving shielded funds have averaged around one every seven seconds, which works out to roughly 11,700 a day. The pace has slowed, however, with the count falling to about 6,200 a day in the seven days through Sept. 28.
The goal stands well above Zcash’s current position. The present count of daily transactions runs into the thousands; the objective calls for tens of thousands every second.
The Path Ahead
Tachyon’s speed remains unshown during Udon’s initial integration work. Before any possible activation, the upgrade proposal still needs further development and a security review.
The sequence of steps is clear:
| Step | What Happens |
|---|---|
| Now | Udon released into Zakura Common |
| Next | Further development of Tachyon |
| Later | Security review |
| Final | Possible activation |
The upgrade remains unactivated as of Tuesday.
What This Means for Users
Nothing alters for users at present. The upgrade remains unactivated, its code resting in Common as a building block instead of a functioning feature.
The actual payoff comes after the upgrade clears its review and switches on. Payments move through wallets faster, and nodes can carry more volume without losing speed.
The road from Udon to activation carries no promise of success. The upgrade is described as “proposed,” meaning it remains only on paper rather than put into practice.
Why This Matters
Privacy coins rely on scale for their secrecy, and Zcash is no exception. The difference between a network capable of handling 50,000 transactions per second and one that manages only dozens is the difference between a viable system and something far less useful.
The developers are building for scale ahead of time, while the network remains small, so the system will be able to expand without falling apart.
Should the security review fail the upgrade, the target remains beyond reach, and the network retains its current state.
A faster settlement layer would allow the network to handle far more private payments than it does today. The gap between three-second waits and under 200 milliseconds is real, and the developers are working toward closing it.
The upgrade’s fate rests on two questions: whether Tachyon passes security review and whether it ever makes it to the network at all. Until then, the account is one of groundwork. Developers are already moving early Tachyon code into faster private-payment software, and the remainder of the path lies ahead.
Source material: “Zcash developers begin moving Tachyon code into faster private-payment software,” CoinDesk.
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