I would like to share some thoughts regarding these two questions, thank you for these!
Regarding question 2, I’d like to point out how one define’s Zcash’s performance matters. IMHO, how we measure something is both deep, and interesting. Like probabilities, it can be manipulated
1. Learning curve is steep (Question 1):
Comparison to Bitcoin in 2009
- Most Considered a scam unless was a highly trained dev / educator
- Bitcoin priced in US Dollars did not matter because no exchanges existed /
- Was new, exciting, break through tech, no middle man, self bank
- No public dev fund (that I know off)
- Post 2011, in the search for more liquidity CEX’s were born, CEX’ly transmitted diseases born and spread rapidly
- No/little regulation – Too new, taboo, and under the radar.
Comparison to Zcash in 2022
- Many Consider a scam unless highly trained dev / educator
- Zcash priced in US dollars matters more because crypto adoption more widespread . Wealth inequality is also at an all time high.
- CEX’s are the main gateway into the crypto industry. “Sudo crypto” used instead of real crypto, similar to old system of stock trading, easier to use and understand, simplified => increases reliance on $ price
- Sudo crypto use is retrograding away from the tech break troughs Bitcoin introduced in the first place.
- If used properly, Zcash has new exciting, break through tech, no more trusted setup, shielded addresses, ZKP, recursion, etc …
- ZIP 1014 (dev fund)
- DEX’s, DeFi, Interop,POS being introduced
- Massive threat of regulation, no longer under the radar.
Overall thought
Both Bitcoin and Zcash had/have breakthough tech for these particular time periods. Majority of the Bitcoin/Zcash ecosystem users currently seem focused on $ price despite the US dollar overwhelmingly being considered a shitcoin. (Irrational) I suggest we ask why this is? 1 ZEC = 1 ZEC
When folks learn of something completely new and hard to understand, they think its a scam. NFT’s are a good example of this. ZKP’s, shielded address, and ZSA’s will probably have the same issue.
IMHO, overpopulation + limited resources is causing massive wealth inequalities around the world which puts most users focus on assets priced in the US Dollar. Users tend to use what is simplest, easiest,
and most fun. Zcash is neither simple nor easy, and because of the headwinds from wealth inequality above, sell pressure is strong.
2.) ZecHub (Question 2):
Because I believe education is one of the most important roadblocks in Zcash going mainstream, I have decided to help run ZecHub. I think education has an indirect relationship with price; hard to measure but important none-the-less. The challenges of education are enormous:
* Time
* Language barrier
* Skill set
* Regulation headwinds
Time
How much time do folks really have to commit when they much rather be spending time earning income they need to survive? Even as grant recipient I can’t spend as much time as I like working on ZecHub because I have bills to pay that almost always have to be paid in US dollars. I’m fully aware that 1 ZEC = 1 ZEC,
Why on earth would I want to sell any earned ZEC now?! .. for US dollars that mean nothing in the long term, unless I absolutely have to?
This means I must find other work to survive which limits my time.
Language Barrier
The world is diverse and full of thousands of amazing cultures. Being on the same page, communication wise, its freaking hard. With AI becoming more highlighted right now, I think this area in particular
could be huge in more easily communicating intended messages both accurately and completely. As a student, light bulb moments happen when you fully understand the language the teacher is using. Math, programming languages, it’s all the same!
Skill set
Folks around the world have different sets of skills they have either learned or are gifted with. Zcash requires a certain subset of these skills to more easily be understood and used properly. As seen here:
In many ways Zcash is {computer science, mathematics, economics} U {infosec, political science, cypherpunks}. The slope of this massive learning curve is necessarily steep and intimidating and yet the folks who will ultimately make/break the success of the project have barely scratched the surface of what needs to be understood. What three things should be prioritized to help bridge this shortcoming and what parallels from other areas of study can be used as models?
Regulation headwinds
The fact that governments around the world are starting to heavily resist privacy preserving technologies should be alarming to everyone. More importantly however, it should also highlight that these technologies must be working for if they didn’t why would they care so much? I think for Zcash, the ECC and Coincenter among others, are providing incredible front line defenses in this area of concern.
My position:
Speaking for myself, I think for Zcash to properly be recognized we need to keep our heads down and stop bickering internally as much as possible and just get to work. Lets become more unified. I will be focused on user education
- I think DevFund should be continued but at a lower rate to encourage folks to work harder (deadlines work!). The rate should decrease over time. I think by the time POS rolls out, we should be close to 0% (staking rewards would take over)
- I think more independent entities is crucial
- I think More than one non-US entity should be a recipient of the DevFund
- I think ZCG should be independent
- I think Shielded Labs should be one of the independent non-US recipient of the DevFund
Since the ZecHub grant was technically submitted by me and because I work for the ZecHubDAO, I will let the community decide whether we should be considered for a slice of DevFun directly. I already feel honored to be able to help with Zcash education and am grateful for all the community support.
I will state what Ive tried to be consistent with:
I'm bullish on education, but understand others have strong opinions where funds should go
If you made it this far, I appreciate your time. 
p.s. It’s possible I mistyped something or my thoughts are confusing, please reach out if you need clarification – a lot to unpack 