That’s certainly a conversation we should have…
…but it doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t ensure that the community has a clear understanding of the current financial state of the various organisations in the Zcash ecosystem, including their runway.
“Rather than” implies that we should do the latter instead of the former. I believe we should do both.
This isn’t about advocating for a particular decision.
This is about ensuring that the community has the facts they need to make an informed decision.
It’s a simple fact that ZF, ECC and ZCG require funding to operate, carry out research, develop software, run events like Zeboot and Zcon, and make grants the way they do currently.
The community’s decisions regarding any future dev fund will have consequences for those organisations’ ability to continue operating (as well as other organisations who are either potential recipients of a future dev fund or potential grant recipients). Those organisations’ current financial position and their burn rate is also a factor.
All of this is also relevant to the question of decentralization. In general, if one organisation controls a disproportionately larger amount of resources (whether that’s money, capability in the form of specialist expertise, influence, etc.) than other organisations in the same ecosystem, that organisation is in a position to wield more power, which means that the ecosystem is less decentralized than if resources are more evenly distributed.
When I projected ECC’s runway based on the numbers for assets and monthly expenditure (i.e. burn rate) from the Q3 2023 report, I ended up extrapolating annual expenditure increases over four years because the runway came out at 54 months (i.e. 4½ years). You indicated that ECC’s burn rate is likely to increase due to salary reviews and new hiring, which implies a shorter runway so that’s why I asked about the four year timeframe.
If the projected runway had come out at 3½ years, I’d have asked about a three year timeframe; if it had been 5½ years, I’d have asked about a five year timeframe.
That’s one facet of the conversation. Another facet is the question of what happens if the community opts not to pay for any services. The ecosystem organisations’ financial state and runway is directly relevant to that.
Whether it’s “better” to have another conversation is a matter of opinion. This conversation is about facts and ensuring that the Zcash community is in a position to make an informed decision.
How many coins were allocated to the retention plan originally?
When did the monthly STRK token vesting begin?
You say that I’m asking for “detail beyond what is required”. Respectfully, I disagree.
The Transparency and Accountability section of ZIP 1014 specifies ongpoing public reporting requirements for the Dev Fund recipients, including an “Annual financial report (IRS Form 990, or substantially similar information).”
The financial reporting requirements in IRS Form 990 include:
- Part VII - Compensation of Officers, Directors, Trustees, Key Employees, Highest Compensated Employees, and Independent Contractors
- Part VIII - Statement of Revenue
- Part IX - Statement of Functional Expenses
- Part X - Balance Sheet
- Part XI - Reconciliation of Net
- Part XII - Financial Statements and Reporting
We comply with ZIP 1014 by publishing our 990s on our website as soon as we submit them to the IRS.
Where can we find Bootstrap’s 990s, and the equivalent information for ECC?