First MGRC grants, mobile wallets?

Maybe a MGRC grant isn’t a solution (though I still think it could be!). But there is a problem that ZecWallet development was paused. I think most of us use it and want it to keep moving along?

I think paying an IOU for a major grant is consistent with this? It’s definitely consistent with the spirit of the ZIP.

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ZecWallet development is paused right now, since the foundation has paused grants, waiting for MGRC to be constituted.

However, the foundation (specifically @antonie) was generous enough to make an exception for a small emergency grant to Zecwallet to beef up our light client infra. Zecwallet usage, especially on mobile, has grown significantly, beyond our original estimates, which is causing stress on the Infra, which caused an outage last week.

This emergency grant will help us beef up our cloud infra.

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Why are ZF grants paused? @amiller

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The problem is technically you’d have to pay ZF money to cover the IOU which you’re not supposed to do.

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I believe we spent our grant budget for the year.

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correct. Some details:

While the Foundation has paid out around $300,000 in grants, it has committed the entire annual grant allocation of $500,000, to be paid out upon the completion of each proposal’s milestones. Here are grant funding details.

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Ok. That makes sense and I understand the Zcash Foundation wanting to stick to the budget.

We still have a problem that the only functional shielded iOS wallet is stagnating without new features being added, due to lack of funding…

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If we want to crowdfund how would we do it? via gitcoin?

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Gitcoin is probably best.

Also congrats to @adityapk00 on needing to buy more servers that’s a very good sign for usage.

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Without good wallets there won’t be more money for next year either. These wallets are why Zcash exists. If it isn’t much more it should be allocated this year and taken out of next year’s budget- next year’s budget less the funding. Then they won’t lose 3 months of development. I understand not wanting to break the budget but these are very important.

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FYI Not sure what that announcement was all about

Upgrade Zecwallet Cloud Infra The team was awarded $5,000 in ZEC as an initial payout on Sep 24th, 2020, 9:21 pm.
ZF Grants - Upgrade Zecwallet's Lite client Infra

unbelievable… who’s running the show at ZF?

y’all remember the early days when a random wallet developer extorted ZF for (off top of head) a couple hundred thousand $$ by threatening to fork the network?

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Big +1 to using Gitcoin to fund Zecwallet (and Nighthawk?) to get the ball rolling quickly. @nathan-at-least and I led a personal campaign back in May to bootstrap Gitcoin funding for Zcash. It’s my understanding that Gitcoin will be ready to launch Zcash support in November. Perhaps @owocki can provide additional insight.

DC

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Do you really expect that you are going to come up with criteria for grant funding that would exclude a small grant to the only shielded zcash wallet currently available on iOS? This would be a very bad decision.

I don’t think that is what she ment @aristarchus. The issue is that we have no mechanism in place to spend any ZEC whatsoever. And we are just now getting each other’s schedules/personal information in order to have conversations about MGRC structure.

As I mentioned in my application:

I would love to see an agile method for us to issue smaller grants like this as needed, and I think it’s possible to do, we are just too soon in this process to do it right this second.

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The development of a wallet should be a company whose mission is to give financial freedom to the whole world, or a fund that supports this slogan, because the trust in the wallet that the user uses must be 100%, and it turns out that using my economic freedom I can be left without funds from for insufficient verification of the code, refusal to pay for work, sabotage and forked circuits. Instead of endlessly repeating the importance of ECC’s work to all of us, it would be better to pay attention to real problems.

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Do you really expect that you are going to come up with criteria for grant funding that would exclude a small grant to the only shielded zcash wallet currently available on iOS?

Wallets are high on my priority list, but there are very real process issues here that bind what the MGRC can and can’t do e.g.

ZF SHALL strive to define target metrics and key performance indicators, and the Major Grant Review Committee SHOULD utilize these in its funding decisions.

Without those metrics from ZF the MGRC doesn’t have standing to make decisions about funding. (Not to mention the fact that the MGRC doesn’t currently have access to any funds.)

Further, this was not just a funding request, it was a request that the newly formed MGRC go into debt to ZF to support an ongoing project that already has grant commitment from ZF, and whose stated reasons for requiring support was a pause in funding from ZF. That is not a straight forward request.

Once the MGRC is fully up and running, has actual funds to disperse, has been provided target metrics by ZF and has established the policies and procedures necessary for fair and transparent operation, then we will be in a position to address ongoing concerns rapidly and effectively.

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Hey Sarah, I can respect the position you’ve taken above even though I disagree with it. It was your mention of criteria for grant funding that had me concerned that you might not be in favor of funding further development of zec wallet at all. Seems that’s not your position.

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Looks like Android Zecwallet app milestone is still pending. Seems like iOS app milestone is complete. Are there any milestones that were originally planned but funding was not requested?

If anyone likes to pay for additional features — please use the grants url to tip. Until a new grant can be made or gitcoin is available to fund.

I agree that an “official” mobile wallet would help build user trust in the project. I understand & appreciate constraints of funding, procedures & legalities. I respect the work that’s been done to this point by all the wallet developers. But if we can unbind our perspectives from the red tape for a moment… this is incredibly valuable user feedback.

“An official wallet would likely make new users feel more trust in the project.”
If I was on a board, I’d make it priority to craft this solution. Whether with a “trust badge” for existing wallets, a white list or some other way. Idk what would be an appropriate solution within current constraints.

But if I had sole discretion over a project & users said they need an officially sanctioned wallet to feel sufficient trust to use the project, I’d make that a priority. Trying to bolt on user trust at later stages will make it harder than it needs to be.

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