# Grant Application - ZECsy Community Building: 12 Months of Zcash on the Ground **URL:** \ **Category:** Community Grants\ **Created:** [August 3, 2026, 4:00pm UTC](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/t/grant-application-zecsy-community-building-12-months-of-zcash-on-the-ground/56890 "2026-08-03T16:00:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 27
**Author:** ![readymouse](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/zcash/user_avatar/forum.zcashcommunity.com/readymouse/32/39041_2.png) [@readymouse](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/u/readymouse)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2026, 5:01pm UTC](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/t/grant-application-zecsy-community-building-12-months-of-zcash-on-the-ground/56890/27 "2026-10-31T17:01:44Z")
# **ZECsy Monthly Report: October 2026** **Reporting period:** Oct 1 to Oct 31, 2026 **Milestone:** Milestone2| **Payment this milestone releases:** November 1, 2026 **Report date:** October 31, 2026 | **Prior reports:** [ZECsy\_Team\_Reports - Google Drive](https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/188HE73mhQvLuIKn8Xs3Jye1-JnqXsJCZ?usp=drive_link) **Grant:** ZECsy Annual IRL Program, approved through nine-month milestones ## **1. Summary** In October 2026, ZECsy completed Milestone 2 of its ZCG-funded annual IRL program, and every deliverable is on pace for the year. The month had two activations. The first was a private workshop in Chicago on October 14 for 15 vetted students. A local sex worker found Violet’s online resource guides and asked for the workshop herself, which is strong evidence of organic demand. The second was a staffed booth at Exxxotica NJ (October 23 to 25) with two apprentices, Eve and Avery. Justine of Apex Latex accepted ZEC there through CipherPay’s point-of-sale system, and Violet’s interview at the STDHero booth spread widely on social media. We include signs of growing real-world adoption, including a workshop graduate onboarding her own clients, and Violet onboarding four vendors in Cancún, working across a language barrier. Outside events, the team grew its ecosystem ties. Mylo and Kate met with PGPZ to build a legal and regulatory FAQ to hand out at booths, connected with Zodl’s marketing team and sent wallet feedback to Zodl, and explored a Zec.live streaming demo with ZK AV Club. Mylo and Violet both spoke on a Zcon7 panel, Kate attended the DC Privacy Summit on her own dime, and the team made two new flyers, one general and one aimed at developers. Next up are a university-focused side event at Devcon 8 in Mumbai (November 2 to 6) and a booth at Exxxotica Miami (December 4 to 6). A Boston workshop with BSWAC is planned for mid-November to early December, and Montreal, Amsterdam, New Orleans and ETHDenver are in early planning. Spending was $39,583 for the month, which is on budget. The biggest costs were Exxxotica NJ travel, swag and booth ($15,500) and Mumbai prep ($6,000), with the remaining crypto-events money set aside for Devcon. The main lesson was that local coordinators make workshops succeed, and that workshops scheduled next to adult-industry expos don’t draw because the likely attendees are busy at the conference. So the team will reach out to values-aligned organizations in different cities whether or not there’s an event nearby. The one major change is swapping AVN for XBIZ Los Angeles, which has a more business-to-business crowd and has a blockchain category, which also frees the team to attend the Zodl Summit in January. ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/zcash/original/3X/5/c/5c7235409d47237d9a2f307b72b71046d6a88e94.jpeg) Team photo from Exxxotica NJ: Left to right: Avery, Violet, Kate, Eve, Mylo and Justine. ## **2. Milestone status** ![Screenshot 2026-10-31 at 11.48.41](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/zcash/original/3X/8/d/8d16c2967fe3a61107924e348fbf8aec92d97eca.jpeg) **Milestone declaration:** This document serves as the report for completion of Milestone 2. ## **3. Deliverables tracker** ![Screenshot 2026-10-31 at 11.49.54](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/zcash/original/3X/7/4/74329d8624a604ae556e545c0dbc788206d434fd.jpeg) **Pace note:** Everything is on pace for completion. ## **4. Cumulative evidence of Zcash use** ### **4.1 Zcash in the wild** - Violet maintains a list of sex workers who now publicly list that they accept ZEC (or other cryptocurrencies via Swaps in ZODL). This shows the real impact of the workshops, outreach and people using ZEC in the wild. Note: We only include workers who publicly report accepting ZEC, to respect people’s privacy and disclosure decisions. Currently contains 21 providers. - Violet also maintains a BlueSky Starterpack for Zcash related accounts, who want to follow the currency. This is recommended to workers who are now interested in zcash, and want to follow updates on social media. - We are working with Justine, owner of Apex Latex ([https://www.apexlatex.com](https://www.apexlatex.com/)), who vended with us at the zcash booth at Exxxotica NJ as a demonstration of CipherPay’s point of sales system. Justine accepted ZEC during the event. We plan to work in the next month to try and integrate CipherPay directly into the site. Justine joined us in Berlin Blockchain week and is returning as a veteran for Exxxotica NJ. - Violet personally onboarded 4 vendors at the Cancún resort on the first night across a language barrier by overpaying for a blown glass cup and earings that she wanted to buy. She was able to onboard all four vendors to ZODL and prove to them that the money was available by off-ramping via the KAST card. They called her a “magician.” This was done out of her own pocket (650 USD in ZEC). - 3 touch points theory: 1. 1. A friend, has been witnessing and listening my zcash-related prep activities like putting stickers on hundreds of condoms for a few months now. They knew the general concept of crypto and encrypted money, but didn’t really see a need in their life for it. 2. In July, they talked to Kate Stapleton at a party about the original cypherpunk values and ethos, but wasn’t convinced yet to try. This wasn’t a hands-on demonstration or even a sale pitch, just a regular conversation about what Bitcoin was originally imagined to be, as alternative to the US dollar. 3. First week of October, they overheard me explaining my work with the sex worker community in preparation for Exxxotica NJ and they started to ask me questions about crypto as a Venmo replacement, eventually downloading Zodl to try. ### **4.2 Second-generation onboarding** For each workshop, we establish a Signal chat for that cohort. We intend to send out polls to the Signal chats 1-month after the workshop to ask about how many others they have onboarded as well as number of transactions they have completed to gauge ongoing usage. We will report results as we have them. ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/zcash/original/3X/e/7/e7cd5e8067bd2ce876222ff01d1ea779155401f1.png) Here is an example from Twitter of someone who Violet onboarded, now onboarding their clients and customers. Bianca talks about how we took crypto from a scam word, to a tool for financial stability. [[https://x.com/xbiancastonex/status/2114812077948748068\](https://x.com/xbiancastonex/status/2114812077948748068%5C)] ### **4.3 In their own words** Comments from the community about interactions with the team. - Comments from the Twitter: [https://x.com/jeremiahrogers/status/2116078791516672254](https://x.com/jeremiahrogers/status/2116078791516672254?a=pX1L0eF3ZcZIDm4qhPg&s=20) - ## **5. Activations and workshops this month** ### **5.1 Completed Events** ### **Chicago Workshop, October 14, 2026** **Type:** Workshop **Crew:** Violet (instructor) **Apprentice trained:** NA **Format:** Private workshop for vetted students **What happened:** Violet received an inquiry via her website after a sex worker E. M. read her resources guides on her personal website. Elena Marchetti is associated with a group in Chicago, and asked Violet if she was willing to run a workshop. E.M. already is willing and able to find students and a venue. _This is exciting because they reached out to Violet directly, demonstrating real signal that these workshops are desired._ **Outcomes:** Event happened with 15 students. **Documentation:** - Luma link: [Chicagoland ZECsy Workshop: Cryptocurrency for Providers · Luma](https://luma.com/oz8qb4n8) - [@meetelenamarchetti.com on Bluesky](https://bsky.app/profile/meetelenamarchetti.com/post/3mydg3j4b6k2y) - -- ### **Exxxotica Edison NJ, Oct 22-25** **Type:** Conference Booth **Crew:** Mylo Bennett, Violet Parr, Kate Stapleton, and Justine (from Berlin Blockchain Week) **Apprentices:** Eve, Avery **Format:** Staffed booth at the main event **What happened:** The ZECsy team staffed the Exxxotica NJ booth. **Outcomes:** Violet was invited to speak about Zcash by PinkRock Femme at the STDHero booth and delivered a concise pitch about it that has seen a lot of circulation on Twitter: [Vi, that trans girl with the QR code tattoo on X: "The very sweet folks at @PinkRockFemme wanted to know more about what @Zcash can do for adult performers, so I sat down with them at the @StdHero booth during #ExxxoticaNJ to share a little bit about what capabilities shielded $ZEC gives workers in… / X](https://x.com/rollergirlVi/status/2114583972172755257) **Documentation:** 1. Luma event: [ZECsy at Exxxotica Edison, NJ · Luma](https://luma.com/9chbt6uz) 2. See full report at [Grant Application - ZECsy Community Building: 12 Months of Zcash on the Ground - #24 by readymouse](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/t/grant-application-zecsy-community-building-12-months-of-zcash-on-the-ground/56890/24) 3. [Zcash at EXXXOTICA](https://www.exxxoticaexpo.com/exhibitors/zcash/) 4. [@pacu.bsky.social on Bluesky](https://bsky.app/profile/pacu.bsky.social/post/3mz2knmw52c2c) 5. [@str4d.xyz on Bluesky](https://bsky.app/profile/str4d.xyz/post/3mz2djrrsy22z) ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/zcash/original/3X/2/a/2a2b591535f1fa559401f531506518cad5feab8e.jpeg) ### **5.2 Updates to In-Progress Events** ### **Mumbai Devcon8, Nov 2- 6** **Type:** Conference Attendance + Side Event **Crew:** Mylo Bennett, Violet Parr, Kate Stapleton **Apprentices:** Evi Nova - Mylo and Violet first met Evi during Buenos Aires devconnect, then saw her again at Berlin Blockchain Week. Mylo invited her to India because her technical background in smart contract development. **Format:** Networking at main event, and university-focused side event **What happened:** The ZECsy team is preparing for the event. 1. Mylo finalized the team capable of traveling. Arranged hotel and flights, plus have applied for travel VISAs to India. 2. Side Event: 3. We will plan to attend Webzero events to support with attendance, and offer any small help they may need. 4. Our goal for attending is to build relationships with other privacy-focused projects and organizations in the space. These connections will aide in getting us speaking slots at future conferences, collaborations for events, as well as our awareness of tools in the space. **Outcomes:** TBD **Documentation:** 1. Luma Links for attending main events: [ZECsy at ETH Cypherpunk Congress #3 · Luma](https://luma.com/ze1j2zv0), [ZECsy at Devcon 8 · Luma](https://luma.com/iaoyiiv7) 2. Our luma links for university side event: [Zcash Educational Forum & University Mixer · Luma](https://luma.com/3fid49nj) ### **–** ### **Exxxotica Miami FL, Dec 4 -6** **Type:** Conference Booth **Crew:** Mylo Bennett, Violet Parr, Kate Stapleton **Apprentices:** A. O., X and Thomas **Format:** Staffed booth at the main event **What happened:** The ZECsy team is preparing for the event. 1. Paid for a premium booth which includes ad placement on the website, and an insert into the program. ($2,900) [Zcash at EXXXOTICA](https://www.exxxoticaexpo.com/exhibitors/zcash/) 2. We booked hotel to ensure we had space in the host hotel, as they book early. 3. A. O. was selected as both an adult industry professional but with experience in cybersecurity. We believe his combination of technical expertise and industry knowledge expertise will enhance the experience of those visiting our booth. 4. X was chosen to add diversity of background to our team, as she has many years of experience in the content creator world. She will connect well with other creators in the industry. **Outcomes:** TBD **Documentation:** - Luma event: [ZECsy at Exxxotica Miami · Luma](https://luma.com/gwzor0y9) -- ### **Boston Workshop, date TBD** **Type:** Workshop **Crew:** Violet (instructor) **Apprentice trained:** TBD **Format:** Private workshop for vetted students **What happened:** Violet and I met with C. from Boston Sex Worker’s and Allies Collective ([https://bswac.org/](https://bswac.org/)). C is very interested in partnering with us to host a workshop in the Boston area. BSWAC already has a mailing list of vetted workers in the area, that they will leverage to help us fill the room. They also have connections to safe venues. **Outcomes:** We are targeting a mid-November/early-December event, and will update as we know more. **Documentation:** TBD -- ### **5.3 Other In-Progress Event Planning** - Montreal Workshop: We got interest in collaborating with local workers, and will pursue a phone call to organize timing, venue, etc. We hope to align with other Zcash Canada events happening in late 2026, and early 2027. - Amsterdam Workshop: We are looking at returning to Amsterdam around late February 2027 to align with other sex worker gathering happening at that time. - New Orlean Workshop: We are looking at collaborating with Working Girls’s Press who plans to attend a poetry and small-business printing press gathering in mid-April 2027. This would be an opportunity to interact with small businesses, as well as workers in the area. Working Girl’s Press accepted ZEC during Amsterdam’s Common S3nse conference at our booth as a CipherPay Point of Sales demonstration. - ETHDenver Feb 2027: Mylo and Kate are brainstorming ideas for a larger conference or activation in Denver. They will be networking during Devcon in India for connections and partners who will make a larger event successful. ETHDenver still has not announced dates, so no firm plans have been made yet. ## **6. Work outside events and workshops** ### **6.1 Field reports routed to the teams who own them** ![Screenshot 2026-10-31 at 11.53.02](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/zcash/original/3X/c/1/c13db01a4f5c100590ba03260d361983d8c1d73e.png) ### **6.2 Collaboration with other grantees and ecosystem projects** - Mylo and Kate met with @divijpandya Divij Pandya of PGPZ to talk about collaborations between our grant work. - During Zcon7: ### **6.3 Partnerships, introductions, and connections made** - Mylo and Violet, connected with S. S. of New Moon Network, [https://www.newmoonnetwork.org/](https://www.newmoonnetwork.org/). This was a key connection, because this will afford us friendly introductions to many other values-aligned organizations. Kate Stapleton (@kate.stapes) attended the DC Privacy Summit (not funded by this grant, but Kate is a part of the grant team). Her words: - I attended the DC Privacy Summit outside of ZECsy funding as I felt it was important to meet some of the core ZCG, PGPZ and ZODL team in person, and the mission to educate and lobby the government at such a critical inflection point in history resonated strongly with me. I was able to attend the Cypherpunk Policy Dinner and mixer, hosted by [PGPZ](https://pgpz.org/) , @divijpandya and @paulbrigner . I put together a full [recap tweet of the evening’s keynotes, panels and discussions.](https://x.com/kate_stapes/status/2110720855974064603) - The following day I attended the DC Privacy Summit where I was able to meet with crypto native projects like [ZK Passport](https://zkpassport.id/) as well as academics, cybersecurity specialists, politicians, lawyers and more. The discussions felt as if they carried more weight as the primaries were upcoming and the focus was largely centered around working with policymakers to protect open source code and keep privacy technology sovereign. - A talk I found particularly insightful was by Erik Voorhees and his open AI model Venice where he declared “Knowledge is never a crime, and the pursuit of knowledge must remain free and open”. [Here’s the full recap tweet.](https://x.com/kate_stapes/status/2110841194364490076) - Overall it was a fantastic opportunity to gain a more complete understanding of the work ongoing in the Zcash ecosystem, outside of workshops and conferences and to meet folks who have been in the fight against surveillance and censorship for decades. It was wonderful to meet fellow Zcashers in person and an honor to meet one of my personal heroes Cindy Cohn. I gained perspective and insight that can only be gained in person and helps temper my work with ZECsy moving forwards. ![Screenshot 2026-10-31 at 11.53.28](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/zcash/original/3X/f/1/f1086ce6cef38f6aa90056b201a4deb00c627d3b.jpeg) 6.4 Community and governance participation - Mylo attended the Arborist bi-weekly calls on Zoom. - Mylo and Violet attended Zcon7. Both Mylo and Violet were speakers on a panel, and Mylo was a small group facilitator. ![Screenshot 2026-10-31 at 11.56.06](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/zcash/original/3X/f/a/fa36b0ad0d1506f1b00c7ce368105e893c4c4423.jpeg) ### **6.5 Tools, documents, and materials produced** - We created a general informational flyer: - We created a developer-focused flyer: ![Screenshot 2026-10-31 at 11.56.44](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/zcash/original/3X/4/9/493cc9c304a4a6406f0b5a035f8701b97331014d.jpeg) We will post the flyers on [Zecsy.com](http://Zecsy.com) for other marketing group to use. ### **6.6 Program development** - Now, attending sex worker meetups and support groups is a recruiting apprentices activity, which the team will continue to participate in. ## **7. Budget and spend** **Milestone 1:** $45,833 **Spent this month:** $39,583 ![Screenshot 2026-10-31 at 11.58.29](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/zcash/original/3X/7/c/7c340e83cbdd7442d6d864c3604727cf1f7beb97.jpeg) **Variance and savings:** On budget, the large remaining allocations for crypto events will support devcon Mumbai in November. ## **8. Learnings and changes** - **What worked:** Chicago worked really well thanks to an engaged boots-on-the-ground coordinator. - **What did not:** We were not able to host a workshop next to Exxxotica NJ, because most potential attendees of a workshop were attending the conference. Side events are rare during a Exxxotica event, where they are more common during crypto and tech conferences. - **Change we are making next month:** We plan to reach out to many values-aligned organizations in various cities to look for engaged partners, even where they don’t align with an existing event. ## **9. Major Changes** We are going to switch from AVN since it is an award and expo show to X-Bis Los Angeles [[https://www.xbizshow.com/\](https://www.xbizshow.com/%5C)]. X-Bis draws more of a business to business crowd, and has a specific category for Blockchain technologies. This change will enable the team to attend the Zodl Summit in January while still fulfilling the requirements of the grant. ## **10. Risks, blockers, and asks** - **Risks:** Health and safety of the team. Availability of tickets and booth space at X-Bis. - **Asks of ZCG or the ecosystem:** Introductions to values-aligned, social good organizations willing collaborate on financial privacy education. ## **All monthly and trip report can be found at** [ZECsy\_Team\_Reports - Google Drive](https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/188HE73mhQvLuIKn8Xs3Jye1-JnqXsJCZ?usp=drive_link) --- _[View the full topic](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/t/grant-application-zecsy-community-building-12-months-of-zcash-on-the-ground/56890)._