Dev Fund 2024: Community Poll & Discussion Megathread

Thanks for clarifying this, I had already raised my concerns about the notable regulatory risks that the global Zcash community deals with, by way of all of the block rewards funds resting inside of only 2 American incorporations (Zcash Foundation and Boostrap (with ECC)). In the current American crypto regulatory climate, the SEC has ample evidence to prosecute both organizations for brokering unregistered securities (the free block reward ZEC that are subsequently taken through some unknown private OTC channels and brokered into dollars)

That scenario would be devastating because there is a risk of all block reward funds being frozen, or worse. The global community of Zcash builders, investors, and advocates are beginning to speak up about how and why these risks aren’t fully vetted. In the regulatory thread, I’m still patiently waiting to hear from Bootstrap, ECC, or Zcash Foundation members who are on the risk assessment and remediation efforts.

These among other reasons are why I’ve voted to end the block reward at the upcoming halving. In doing so, there are 3-4 fewer regulatory vectors that Zcash and its core ushering organizations could be attacked from. Phasing out the block reward, and ultimately relying on Proof of Stake ZEC yield rewards is a significantly clearer solution to provide each of ZF, ECC, and ZCG with adequate self-funding capabilities. I am also in favor of chartering a core Zcash ecosystem entity outside of America, that is a no brainer.

As many others have remarked above, the price of ZEC weighs heavily on this ecosystem’s ability to comfortably self-fund for the next few years and decades. Proof of Stake will be a major improvement to aligning capital incentives with those of builders and advocates.

I’ll also make a statement of the obvious. Zcash’s “Dev Tax” as many of us pejoratively hear it spoken about, has been a PR albatross around our neck since Day 1. Setting a new confidence in the global ecosystem by phasing out the “Dev Tax” will grant similar peace of mind as was gained by the incredible protocol upgrade (Halo) that let Zcash step beyond the risks and negative PR surrounding trusted encryption parameter setups.

3 Likes