# A proposal for a Zcash DAO Mechanism
**URL:** https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/t/a-proposal-for-a-zcash-dao-mechanism/50754
**Category:** Community Collaborations
**Created:** [March 31, 2025, 6:57pm UTC](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/t/a-proposal-for-a-zcash-dao-mechanism/50754 "2025-03-31T18:57:31Z")
**Posts on this page:** 8
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@pitmutt](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/u/pitmutt)
#### Post date: [March 31, 2025, 6:57pm UTC](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/t/a-proposal-for-a-zcash-dao-mechanism/50754/1 "2025-03-31T18:57:31Z")
With the ongoing discussions regarding the Dev Fund and the governance of the community, I have drafted a proposed mechanism to implement a DAO using Zcash shielded addresses with the following considerations in mind:
- It does not require ZSAs, programmability or protocol changes
- It does not require wallets to do any development
- It can be used by anyone with a laptop and a Zcash wallet
- It does not enforce any particular type of governance model
- It supports sub-DAOs (it’s recursive! – Haskell joke)
The motivation behind this proposal is that we can implement a structure to organize ourselves with existing tools. Would it be better if we had ZSAs, smart contracts and signed memos? Of course! But if humans were able to organize themselves using quills and papyrus, we can start with the tools we have now and build from there.
## [A Zcash DAO Mechanism](https://hedgedoc.vergara.tech/s/dtiVMIqAb#)
TL;DR:
- Use 3 unified addresses to record DAO data:
- Membership
- Proposals
- Votes
- Use [minisign](https://jedisct1.github.io/minisign/) signatures to validate membership, that only members can submit proposals and that only members can vote.
This was heavily inspired by the [On-chain accountable voting proposal](https://zips.z.cash/draft-ecc-onchain-accountable-voting) from ECC.
I would love to hear feedback on these ideas.
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### Author:  [@pitmutt](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/u/pitmutt)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2025, 6:35pm UTC](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/t/a-proposal-for-a-zcash-dao-mechanism/50754/2 "2025-04-15T18:35:54Z")
Would there be any group/community interested in using an implementation of this idea?
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### Author:  [@dismad](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/u/dismad)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2025, 6:38pm UTC](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/t/a-proposal-for-a-zcash-dao-mechanism/50754/3 "2025-04-15T18:38:32Z")
I can’t speak for [@ZecHub](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/groups/zechub) , but am willing to try it out myself. I love working with these ideas in practice.
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### Author:  [@pitmutt](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/u/pitmutt)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2025, 7:36pm UTC](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/t/a-proposal-for-a-zcash-dao-mechanism/50754/4 "2025-04-15T19:36:16Z")
Given the Dev Fund situation, we’re trying to focus our attention on work that will have the greatest impact.
If there is no demand for it, we can focus elsewhere.
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### Author:  [@outgoing.doze](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/u/outgoing.doze)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2025, 7:53pm UTC](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/t/a-proposal-for-a-zcash-dao-mechanism/50754/5 "2025-04-15T19:53:50Z")
I have completely missed this amazing post / idea 🤦
That’d be one great use of the dev fund!! cc @aquietinvestor
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### Author:  [@erezat](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/u/erezat)
#### Post date: [May 28, 2026, 12:21pm UTC](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/t/a-proposal-for-a-zcash-dao-mechanism/50754/6 "2026-05-28T12:21:18Z")
Hi reviving this post, has something moved forward with this great proposal?
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### Author:  [@pitmutt](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/u/pitmutt)
#### Post date: [May 28, 2026, 2:21pm UTC](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/t/a-proposal-for-a-zcash-dao-mechanism/50754/7 "2026-05-28T14:21:35Z")
We have not started an implementation of this. At the time, there seemed little interest in funding the implementation.
Would be happy to revisit it if there’s interest.
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### Author:  [@dismad](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/u/dismad)
#### Post date: [May 28, 2026, 2:26pm UTC](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/t/a-proposal-for-a-zcash-dao-mechanism/50754/8 "2026-05-28T14:26:53Z")
This would be a _fantastic_ hackathon entry 🏗