This is basically the “tZEC on external chains” model I wrote about, just the custodial version.
The concept is right. ZEC should live on chains where DeFi and liquidity already exist. But the custodial architecture is the weak link. BitGo is a US-regulated custodian. @januszgrze is asking the right questions about blacklist and freeze functions. If those exist, this is a compliance product, not a sovereignty product.
ZCG is already funding red·bridge, which uses FROST threshold signatures from the Zcash Foundation’s audited implementation. No single custodian, distributed guardian set. Different trust model entirely.
Not against this proposal. Having any wrapped ZEC is better than none, and the Chainlink PoR verification is a nice addition. But $70K of this $80K is liquidity seeding, not infrastructure. If we’re going to spend grant money on bridging, shouldn’t the priority be making the trustless version production-ready?