How does ZEC fit into the Zcash Foundation's long-term strategy?

[aquietinvestor]

@zooko

I don’t know if the Zcash Foundation supports this strategy.

Their mission statement and their stated values do talk about “Zcash”, but it’s unclear to me whether that means Zcash-the-technology, which could serve as a positive externality to bring benefits to the holders of other tokens by other projects copying the technology, or Zcash-the-network — which, if ZSAs get deployed on it without substantial compensation to ZEC holders — could do the same, or if they mean Zcash-the-coin: ZEC!

I can understand why Zooko finds it difficult to tell whether the Zcash Foundation supports the Electric Coin Company’s ZEC-focused strategy.

Here’s a recent Tweet from a prominent member of the Foundation’s Board of Directors:

For me and many other community members and ZEC holders, Zcash is not an academic experiment on blockchain privacy or a testnet for other cryptocurrencies. It is a highly functional protocol that has the potential to become the mainstream alternative to Bitcoin as a private store of value and medium of exchange. Usage matters and should be high on the Foundation’s list of priorities.

I can’t say for sure whether the rest of the Foundation’s leadership team shares Peter’s view because the Foundation has not published or explicitly stated their short-term and long-term strategic priorities. We know they’re working on Zebra and FROST, and as a member of the Zcash Community Grants committee, I can say they do an excellent job supporting ZCG.

But what’s their vision for Zcash? Where’s the roadmap that lays out their goals and objectives and how they plan to achieve them? If this was evident, Zooko would not need to write this post.