# Dev Fund 2024: Community Poll & Discussion Megathread

**URL:** <https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/t/dev-fund-2024-community-poll-discussion-megathread/44527>\
**Category:** Governance\
**Created:** [May 4, 2023, 4:08pm UTC](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/t/dev-fund-2024-community-poll-discussion-megathread/44527 "2023-05-04T16:08:04Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![aquietinvestor](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/zcash/user_avatar/forum.zcashcommunity.com/aquietinvestor/32/34528_2.png) [@aquietinvestor](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/u/aquietinvestor)\
**Post date:** [May 4, 2023, 4:08pm UTC](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/t/dev-fund-2024-community-poll-discussion-megathread/44527/1 "2023-05-04T16:08:05Z")

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Given some of the discussions that are occurring within the community, it seems like a good time to start thinking about the Dev Fund and whether or not it should continue after the next halving in late 2024.

The current Dev Fund, which is governed by [ZIP 1014](https://zips.z.cash/zip-1014), started in late 2020 and will expire in late 2024. Over a four year period, 20% of the block reward (1,050,000 ZEC) is allocated to three different entities: Zcash Community Grants receives 40% of the Dev Fund (420,000 ZEC), the Electric Coin Company receives 35% (367,500 ZEC), and the Zcash Foundation receives 25% (262,500 ZEC). All three entities are domiciled in the US. Zcash Community Grants is not an independent entity, but a committee under the Zcash Foundation, which custodies and administers its funds.

**Let’s kick things off with an informal poll to try and determine community sentiment about some of the key issues related to the Dev Fund. Please also use this thread to discuss whether the Dev Fund should continue after the next halving, and if so, how it should be allocated. The next halving is right around the corner, and there’s a lot to discuss, so let’s get the conversation started now.**

If the Dev Fund continues after the next halving as 20% of the block reward, a total of 525,000 ZEC will be allocated to recipients from late 2024 to late 2028.

* * *

_Poll ([view on site](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/t/dev-fund-2024-community-poll-discussion-megathread/44527/1))_

_Poll ([view on site](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/t/dev-fund-2024-community-poll-discussion-megathread/44527/1))_

_Poll ([view on site](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/t/dev-fund-2024-community-poll-discussion-megathread/44527/1))_

_Poll ([view on site](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/t/dev-fund-2024-community-poll-discussion-megathread/44527/1))_

_Poll ([view on site](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/t/dev-fund-2024-community-poll-discussion-megathread/44527/1))_

_Poll ([view on site](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/t/dev-fund-2024-community-poll-discussion-megathread/44527/1))_

_Poll ([view on site](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/t/dev-fund-2024-community-poll-discussion-megathread/44527/1))_

_Poll ([view on site](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/t/dev-fund-2024-community-poll-discussion-megathread/44527/1))_

_Poll ([view on site](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/t/dev-fund-2024-community-poll-discussion-megathread/44527/1))_

_Poll ([view on site](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/t/dev-fund-2024-community-poll-discussion-megathread/44527/1))_

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**Author:** ![joris](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/zcash/user_avatar/forum.zcashcommunity.com/joris/32/4592_2.png) [@joris](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/u/joris)\
**Post date:** [May 4, 2023, 6:37pm UTC](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/t/dev-fund-2024-community-poll-discussion-megathread/44527/2 "2023-05-04T18:37:45Z")

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If any devfund recipients individuals voted in this poll, we should know.

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**Author:** ![nathan-at-least](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/zcash/user_avatar/forum.zcashcommunity.com/nathan-at-least/32/8_2.png) [@nathan-at-least](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/u/nathan-at-least)\
**Post date:** [May 4, 2023, 9:32pm UTC](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/t/dev-fund-2024-community-poll-discussion-megathread/44527/3 "2023-05-04T21:32:13Z")

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I agree. I am specifically refraining from voting.

I’m much less clear about ZCG grant recipients, though. I _personally_ would want them to participate, even though there’s a blurry line about their incentives. The reason is because I consider grant recipients, broadly, to be demonstrably engaged with improving Zcash while still being outside the DF orgs proper.

Also, that blurry line really also applies to anyone who may want to apply for a _future_ grant, even if they haven’t ever applied or received grant funding. I personally want the number of people considering applying for future grants to be very large and basically every Zcasher. 🙂

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**Author:** ![joshs](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/zcash/user_avatar/forum.zcashcommunity.com/joshs/32/13631_2.png) [@joshs](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/u/joshs)\
**Post date:** [May 5, 2023, 3:10am UTC](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/t/dev-fund-2024-community-poll-discussion-megathread/44527/4 "2023-05-05T03:10:14Z")

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I voted.

I’m not here for the money, I took a significant pay and title cut when I joined ECC.  
I’m here because it’s our world’s best hope for economic freedom.  
I hold and use ZEC.  
I voted my honest opinion.  
I reject the assertion that devfund recipients should have less of a voice and should abstain from speaking.

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**Author:** ![gotope](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/zcash/user_avatar/forum.zcashcommunity.com/gotope/32/27652_2.png) [@gotope](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/u/gotope)\
**Post date:** [May 5, 2023, 3:18am UTC](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/t/dev-fund-2024-community-poll-discussion-megathread/44527/5 "2023-05-05T03:18:37Z")

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Oh god, those who voted to continue the Dev Fund are killing ZEC.

The fundamental reason is that most of the users on this forum are members of ECC, ZF, and ZCG, and they are all 20% beneficiaries, most of they will support continue.

Whether to continue the 20% Dev Fund vote should be launched on a platform with a wider audience, such as Twitter or Reddit.

Can these dozens of supporters represent a large number of ZEC users?

It is unscientific and invalid to do sampling analysis in a limited set!

WE can’t have Dev Fund any more, make good use of what you already have.

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**Author:** ![artkor](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/zcash/user_avatar/forum.zcashcommunity.com/artkor/32/28573_2.png) [@artkor](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/u/artkor)\
**Post date:** [May 5, 2023, 6:55am UTC](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/t/dev-fund-2024-community-poll-discussion-megathread/44527/6 "2023-05-05T06:55:46Z")

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This survey is a preliminary cross-section of opinions. It is possible that it will serve as a basis for understanding the need to add other issues to the vote. A real survey will be conducted for members of the [ZCAP](https://zfnd.org/zcap/).

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**Author:** ![RIV53](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9fc29f/32.png) [@RIV53](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/u/RIV53)\
**Post date:** [May 5, 2023, 7:07am UTC](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/t/dev-fund-2024-community-poll-discussion-megathread/44527/7 "2023-05-05T07:07:50Z")

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Question 5, 6, 7  
ZEС less than $ 200 means 5  
200 = 4  
300 = 3  
400 = 2  
500 = 1

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![gotope](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/zcash/user_avatar/forum.zcashcommunity.com/gotope/32/27652_2.png) [@gotope](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/u/gotope)\
**Post date:** [May 5, 2023, 8:41am UTC](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/t/dev-fund-2024-community-poll-discussion-megathread/44527/8 "2023-05-05T08:41:05Z")

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1 (best) to 5 (worst)

I choose 4

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**Author:** ![ryan.taylor](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/zcash/user_avatar/forum.zcashcommunity.com/ryan.taylor/32/44336_2.png) [@ryan.taylor](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/u/ryan.taylor)\
**Post date:** [May 5, 2023, 9:25am UTC](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/t/dev-fund-2024-community-poll-discussion-megathread/44527/9 "2023-05-05T09:25:39Z")

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I voted.

There’s a 10 character minimum.

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**Author:** ![Dodger](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/zcash/user_avatar/forum.zcashcommunity.com/dodger/32/3021_2.png) [@Dodger](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/u/Dodger)\
**Post date:** [May 5, 2023, 9:32am UTC](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/t/dev-fund-2024-community-poll-discussion-megathread/44527/10 "2023-05-05T09:32:50Z")

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> [@aquietinvestor](#):
>
> Question #6: On a scale of 1 (best) to 5 (worst), how would you rate the Zcash Foundation’s performance as a Dev Fund recipient?

It’s always interesting to see the results of these sorts of polls!

I’d like to ask those who ranked ZF’s performance anything other than 1:

1. Why don’t you think ZF is doing the best job it can?
2. What do you think ZF should be doing that we aren’t right now?
3. Do you think that ZF should _not_ be doing some of the things that it _is_ doing (e.g. building Zebra and FROST, organising Zcon, making grants, funding research into PoS and programmability)?

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**Author:** ![artkor](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/zcash/user_avatar/forum.zcashcommunity.com/artkor/32/28573_2.png) [@artkor](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/u/artkor)\
**Post date:** [May 5, 2023, 10:05am UTC](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/t/dev-fund-2024-community-poll-discussion-megathread/44527/11 "2023-05-05T10:05:02Z")

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I confess I didn’t read the question carefully and gave high marks. 🫡😬  
But now I’ve fixed it

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![aquietinvestor](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/zcash/user_avatar/forum.zcashcommunity.com/aquietinvestor/32/34528_2.png) [@aquietinvestor](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/u/aquietinvestor)\
**Post date:** [May 5, 2023, 10:11am UTC](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/t/dev-fund-2024-community-poll-discussion-megathread/44527/12 "2023-05-05T10:11:11Z")

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@artkor You can change your vote by clicking the “Show Vote” icon at the bottom of Questions 5-7 and re-selecting your answer.

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**Author:** ![nextiscrypto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/97f17d/32.png) [@nextiscrypto](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/u/nextiscrypto)\
**Post date:** [May 5, 2023, 12:45pm UTC](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/t/dev-fund-2024-community-poll-discussion-megathread/44527/13 "2023-05-05T12:45:53Z")

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Strongly disagree. Platforms you mentioned have troll accounts/communities which are constantly trying to dismiss Zcash as an inferior crypto than what they hold, even while wanting to adopt the tech that is made possible due to the dev fund. They would jump of the chance to hijack this kind of a pool.

Also achievements such as getting rid of the trusted setup, bringing shielded tx to ledger hardware wallet etc would not have been possible without the fund. Engineers need to be incentivized for the work they are doing.

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**Author:** ![artkor](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/zcash/user_avatar/forum.zcashcommunity.com/artkor/32/28573_2.png) [@artkor](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/u/artkor)\
**Post date:** [May 5, 2023, 1:08pm UTC](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/t/dev-fund-2024-community-poll-discussion-megathread/44527/14 "2023-05-05T13:08:54Z")

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I can understand people who came in three years and say that funds are killing Zcash. And it is not about innovations that came to zcash. This statement is nothing more than a question about the price. If would ZEC on average correlate with at least some old altcoins, then no one would ever say that the dev fund is killing ZEC.

But sometimes even I have a question:  
ZEC for DF or DF for ZEC. Even though it is a system, some of this should be ahead in importance. And the absolute majority of those who in ZEC prefer the formula DF for ZEC, and if they don’t see a positive impact on the price, then they don’t understand why DF is needed at all. This is the motivation for such statements.

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**Author:** ![zerodartz](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/zcash/user_avatar/forum.zcashcommunity.com/zerodartz/32/26722_2.png) [@zerodartz](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/u/zerodartz)\
**Post date:** [May 5, 2023, 1:25pm UTC](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/t/dev-fund-2024-community-poll-discussion-megathread/44527/15 "2023-05-05T13:25:49Z")

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i think Zcash needs devfund.  
but - lower the % if/wen possible.

Devs shud work on ways for Zec price to rise higher so devfund is worth more - so can dev more.  
Developin solutions dat make Zec super usable/useful for everyday ppl will make price one day higher and support devfund more even at lower % iwo.

Yes its really hard to do/make happen in reality. Zec hodlers have faith and hope in devs and others.  
time will tell.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![GGuy](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/zcash/user_avatar/forum.zcashcommunity.com/gguy/32/19036_2.png) [@GGuy](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/u/GGuy)\
**Post date:** [May 5, 2023, 3:05pm UTC](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/t/dev-fund-2024-community-poll-discussion-megathread/44527/16 "2023-05-05T15:05:25Z")

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Let me go out on a limb and speculate that some people vote in relation to the amount of funding ZF received. And for the amount of funding ZF recieve we expect more.

I will concede that while ZF has been very conservative (compared to ECC) with spending it does put ZF in a better financial position to ride out this slump in ZEC price.

But I’ve also heard more then once… “What’s the point of hording ZEC if it’s just going to be half the price in 12months?”. While overly pessimistic it does raise a good question. Is there a fuzzy line on what % of the ZEC received should be spent? If that line isn’t reached should ZCAP reassess if those extra funds are better allocated elsewhere?

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**Author:** ![pacu](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/zcash/user_avatar/forum.zcashcommunity.com/pacu/32/15383_2.png) [@pacu](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/u/pacu)\
**Post date:** [May 5, 2023, 5:19pm UTC](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/t/dev-fund-2024-community-poll-discussion-megathread/44527/17 "2023-05-05T17:19:19Z")

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I voted, gave the honest opinion of someone that’s heavily invested in Zcash and has been dedicating its life to it for the last 4 years.

Also, nothing would keep people from creating fake accounts and vote anyway.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Chammy](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/zcash/user_avatar/forum.zcashcommunity.com/chammy/32/20383_2.png) [@Chammy](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/u/Chammy)\
**Post date:** [May 5, 2023, 5:25pm UTC](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/t/dev-fund-2024-community-poll-discussion-megathread/44527/18 "2023-05-05T17:25:08Z")

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> [@joshs](#):
>
> I reject the assertion that devfund recipients should have less of a voice and should abstain from speaking.

This reminds me of that saying “Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch”

Also, I do not think the powers that be in Zcash (eg. dev fund recipients) have ever had “less of a voice” in anything related to Zcash, quite the opposite, actually. All of you are ZCAP (even have a +1 derived from the latest ZCAP elargement) and get to vote on whether to extend the devfund, unlike 99% of the REAL zcash community.

So it is kind of a futile excercise to even have a (charade) debate on this, as the devfund will, without a doubt, be extended.

As I said before “the powers that be in Zcash never ever lose, actually they always win by a landslide”, and this devfund debate certainly won’t be an exception.

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**Author:** ![earthrise](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/zcash/user_avatar/forum.zcashcommunity.com/earthrise/32/11887_2.png) [@earthrise](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/u/earthrise)\
**Post date:** [May 5, 2023, 6:09pm UTC](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/t/dev-fund-2024-community-poll-discussion-megathread/44527/20 "2023-05-05T18:09:38Z")

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> [@gotope](#):
>
> Oh god, those who voted to continue the Dev Fund are killing ZEC.

I don’t understand why one would argue in favour of no dev fund, could someone help me understand by ~~strawmaning~~ steelmanning that position?

If there’s no dev fund, all of the block reward goes to miners, whose function is to provide security against 51% attacks. Protecting against 51% attacks is important, but there’s so many more kinds of security Zcash needs to have; it’s a bleeding-edge cryptographic protocol that needs maintenance and people standing by to run incident responses to be secure.

Why should we invest so heavily in a specific kind of security to the determent of all other kinds of security, and avoid rewarding people who contribute code to Zcash? Is it an objection to the current recipients of the dev fund rather than an objection to the concept of a dev fund in general?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![artkor](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/zcash/user_avatar/forum.zcashcommunity.com/artkor/32/28573_2.png) [@artkor](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/u/artkor)\
**Post date:** [May 5, 2023, 6:59pm UTC](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/t/dev-fund-2024-community-poll-discussion-megathread/44527/21 "2023-05-05T18:59:47Z")

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> [@Temporary re-allocation of funding among Zcash entities](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/t/temporary-re-allocation-of-funding-among-zcash-entities/44515/30):
>
> You know guys, I found the words to formulate the paradox of the Zcash development fund. Along with the fact that I cannot deny its great role, I also cannot deny that it is the most non-market mechanism of influence on ZEC. I’ll explain. The normal investment market is arranged in such a way that the lower the price, the more willing to invest their money in the token. And the higher the price, the more willing to sell the token. Cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin do not violate this principle. …

Obviously, this is the reason.

Note, I voted for the dev fund, but my concerns are related to a proposal from a neighboring topic. A proposal with which I categorically disagree.

[Next page](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/t/dev-fund-2024-community-poll-discussion-megathread/44527.md?page=2)
