Hello community!
I decided to run again for re-election next year. I hesitated at first, because I see myself more as a crisis manager. I like it when the waters get stormy and you don’t know what comes next. But you know, I’m grateful to the guys on our committee who think it makes sense. And since I still have enough free time to make Zcash my main focus, I’m ready to keep going.
I’m genuinely glad that this year we have such a strong list of candidates. It shows how much we care about Zcash and how much we all want a strong committee. What makes this election even better is that the candidates have very different priorities, which means people can vote for ideas rather than just names. And choosing by names alone would be much harder.
I’m writing this message mainly so that I can pass the baton, whether it ends up being to myself again or to another candidate. What matters to me is expressing a few ideas that, in my view, will help us keep the team strong. And by team, I mean every active member of the community. This community has gone through crises of belief, revolutionary proposals, emotional disputes, and we have also lost valuable contributors who made meaningful contributions but left for one reason or another. And I think that no high price for ZEC will bring back even a fraction of them, because most people are driven by the idea, recognition, and desire to be heard. We should not forget that.
Nevertheless, the price context has changed significantly. Yes, this undoubtedly creates new opportunities for us, but at the same time, it also creates new dangerous challenges. The danger is not that we can spend more, but that we can start spending more easily. You know, it’s like a test of faith with money. To avoid falling into euphoria that could affect our decisions, I simply continue to live the same way I always have. I could afford more now, but I choose not to. As before, I remain all in on ZEC! And I intend to continue working with ZCG funds in the same careful and principled way, staying alert and avoiding unnecessary risks, if the community allows me to continue in this role. Inside the committee, we spend a lot of time understanding what we are asked to fund. We already see an increase in dishonest grant attempts, and we expect to see more of them. But I am also not afraid of major, meaningful investments, such as the partnership with Brave, which can return value through strong promotion and wider exposure for Zcash.
I will continue to avoid wording that could harm our community. I want to thank all developers and ambassadors who received rejections from ZCG this year but still stayed with us. I believe it is important to support long-term contributors who have been here with us for a long time, especially now that we have the resources to do so. At the same time, fairness must remain a priority. When it comes to developer grants, I believe we can now focus more on future potential rather than only on achieved results. We can afford to do this when it concerns dedicated members of the team who have been here for many years. Not every valuable tool finds its use immediately, and that is normal.
The same applies to theoretical work. I appreciate grants that allow us to explore long-term possibilities for Zcash. In the past, we often had to reject such proposals due to budget limitations, but today we are able to support projects whose practical results we may see only years from now. We did some of this in 2025 as well.
Speaking of ZCG in 2025, I think that overall we did quite well.
Every proposal, unless it is written by an AI bot, represents a significant amount of work even at the drafting stage, and behind it there is usually a person’s enthusiasm. I understand that, and this is why rejecting ideas that people truly believe in is not the easiest part of our work. Yet if you ask whether there are any decisions made by ZCG that I regret, I would not change any of them. You can rely on that statement when deciding whether or not to vote for me.
ZCG’s decisions are not about finding a perfect project. They are about fairness to the community. Our responsibility is not to satisfy every applicant, but to protect the interests of all Zodlers, including those who may never submit a proposal but support the ecosystem for years with their trust. The best thing I can say here is that we value everyone’s work, and we act with the best intentions toward the long-term interests of the entire community.
What else is important to say about myself at this moment? I have become even more diplomatic. I still support the full set of upgrades we highlighted before the price surge: Crosslink first of all, NSM, and the introduction of ZSA. I clearly see these innovations as improvements over Bitcoin in the areas where, in my view, it is moving toward an inevitable collapse. I’m absolutely convinced of this, because I do not follow the “authorities” among Bitcoiners. I rely only on my own intuition, backed by reasoning.
I believe that some of these changes can help transform the Zcash protocol so that we avoid Bitcoin’s weaknesses in the future. At the same time, I am ready to listen to members of our community who have been here at least as long as I have, but who naturally have a broader perspective because they have spoken with many different Zcashers at different levels. If the majority of such people believe that the time for these innovations has not yet come, then I’m ready to wait for that time. If the current narrative has a good wind behind it, there is no need to change the sail yet. We can change it later.
In the current environment, we cannot afford either dogmatism or impulsiveness. We cannot freeze the future, but we also cannot take risks just for hype. But I will support any meaningful effort in these directions. I stand for flexibility that does not change our principles. We can listen to one another, move step by step, and choose the moment for major changes when it truly strengthens us.
I said that I do not follow any authorities among Bitcoiners, but within our own community, anyone who has walked this path deserves full respect. We are Zodlers!
Regarding the structure of ZCG, I do not support any changes to it. I believe that the current organizational model meets all the necessary requirements and is optimal for this stage. Alex, Danika, and the rest of the FPF team do an enormous amount of work that allows the committee to focus on its actual responsibilities.
If you trust me, then trust this point as well: @ZCG is completely independent. It is a five-member body that can approve absolutely anything it decides to approve, and neither Alex nor anyone else will intervene or try to stop it. Maybe one day we will approve something truly outrageous, just so this topic disappears forever.
Until the community itself decides that ZCG is no longer needed at all, you can be sure that the committee is fully autonomous. And when you first join ZCG, this level of independence is actually a bit shocking.
To conclude, if you were to ask me who you should vote for, I would name Jason first. I have seen his work inside the committee, and I feel obligated to highlight his organizational skills. Jason is an informal leader, an ideal committee member who listens carefully and works efficiently. His way of working is outstanding: he never puts things aside and gets them done as soon as they appear. He builds bridges wherever possible. And I strongly encourage everyone to support his candidacy.
Zerodartz plays an irreplaceable role when it comes to communicating with the broader community. He has an incredible ability to connect with new people, and he remains objective in any discussion.
I support you guys even more than I support my own candidacy. I am not mentioning the other current members only because it is not their election term, and each of them is exactly where they should be right now. But elections always matter, and I hope we took a long enough pause to give more attention to the new participants.
I want to address all candidates: the committee should not have a “winning ideology,” no matter how correct it may seem. Too much minimalism slows us down; too much experimentation makes us vulnerable. Strong individuals are valuable only when they take the common interest into account. The best committee is one that can argue and still make good decisions for everyone.
That is probably all that needed to be written. I may have forgotten something, and I will be glad to answer any questions you have.
Thank you to everyone who keeps Zcash moving forward. Being part of this community is already a privilege!
I will also leave a link to my previous application, where I shared more about myself:
Artkor aka ruzcash for ZCG (December 2024).
