Alarm bells! 🚨 re ZOMG

[wobbzz]

@tromer

What really happened is ZF mostly froze its own (“minor”) grant program, around the time ZIP 1014 went into effect. This put the burden on MGRC/ZOMG to handle all the grant proposals, including small and “needier” ones. That’s far more time consuming (as ZF those of us who served on ZF’s internal grant committee, back when it existed, are well aware).

Conversely, the large grant applications by “third entity”-class major players, of which at least one was tentative, haven’t materialized! My conjecture is that the explosion of DeFi, around the same time, hoovered up all the teams and attention. The Zcash Dev Fund, despite its amazing long-term prospects, could not compete with the financial conjuring magic and immediate gratification of DeFi token issuance.

This background is helpful and is why we need seasoned elmers like you active on the forums. I would love to see other seasoned individuals that voted for this vision more active here (or at least communicating this vision more), mentoring newer entrants to the space and reminding/roping the discussion back in line with the vision. I would also love to see more communication from the Zcash Foundation about their plan and vision.

This raises some questions for me when thinking about how we move forward from the current situation:

1. Does the ZF currently intend to operate in the spirit of this envisioned model (funding minor grants) once they have obtained the staffing they have planned?
2. Do you think this vision is still the best course of action given the broader DeFi explosion?
3. I’m curious to see your thoughts on the ZOMG white paper. Should this really be a ZF white paper? Or a white paper that drives the mission behind a 3rd, 4th, or 5th entity that already exists, is created, or enters the space, is awarded a major grant, and is assigned significant
   responsibility for various items mentioned in the white paper? (brainstorming here)