---
layout: post
title: "Zcash Ecosystem Fund Controversy"
excerpt: "The Foundation's responses to contentious issues surrounding the Zcash Ecosystem Fund proposal."
categories: blog
tags: [governance]
image:
feature:
date: 2018-07-10
author: zcashboard
---
At Zcon0, investor Eric Meltzer [proposed the Zcash Ecosystem Fund](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FY4JrU7bSFk), a new project that would use some of the [Founders’ Reward](https://blog.electriccoin.co/funding/?page=0) to create a DAO-like entity for backing Zcash-related startups. Last week Eric [posted a proposal on the Zcash forum](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/t/proposal-to-create-a-zcash-ecosystem-fund-directly-funded-by-the-founders-reward/30111) describing how he envisioned the ZEF would work. “This should not be treated as a final document, but rather as a ‘request for comments’ to the Zcash community,” Eric wrote.
When the Foundation first heard about the Zcash Ecosystem Fund, several months before Zcon0, the plan was for it to be structured like a traditional venture capital firm, with limited partners contributing the investment funds. Instead, Eric’s proposal at Zcon0 and on the forum suggested reconfiguring the Founders’ Reward to fund the ZEF.
The Founders’ Reward is currently dispensed to a handful of Zcash co-creators. A proposal to redistribute their financial rights without asking them first, or at all, was very controversial. Zcash Company cryptographer Ariel Gabizon responded in a forum comment:
> The founders’ shares are theirs, like your salary and savings are yours. It is fine to suggest to someone - you should spend your money this way, you should donate to that cause, ect. [...] It’s not fine to pose as a question to the community - what should we do with this person’s money? That question implies it’s the community’s decision and doesn’t require the person’s consent.
Concurring with Ariel, forum moderator and Zcash Company engineer Daira Hopwood locked the thread. She explained her thinking [in a Reddit comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/zec/comments/8x259a/thread_proposing_a_redistribution_of_a_portion_of/e20t00k/):
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