Innovating ZCG

Governance
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Innovating ZCG

ZCG committee members are elected by the Zcash community (with a term of one year), so they are directly accountable to the community in the sense that the community can choose to not re-elect an existing member when their term is up.

This process needs adjustment, we need to implement two year limits to any serving member on ZCG. The current ZCG is made up of three members who have been on ZCG for more than three years, one member on the second year. These four members have overseen ZCG through its worst performance and have refused to accept that the direction and type of decision making of the attempted leadership have been totally insufficient. However the process of using ZCAP to recommend new members to ZCG, is not working.

Million Dollar Grants
Three Grants - Zcash Media, Nighthawk Wallet, Qedit. Have received huge grants and small ecosystem involvment after receiving the grant. We need to cap grants at $500 000.

Both @wobbzz and @gguy should immediately take accountability and step down in the next ZCG Election. Take the lead such as (@dontpanicburns), serve , the ecosystem says thank you and we bring in new ideas and new solutions, to ZCG Management.

The Current Leadership of ZCG is not working.

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This should be the start of a new topic. Innovate Zcash community grants. No capitals :wink:

plz @Dodger

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Qedit has been exceptionally involved/ transparent throughout the course of their grants, in my opinion. Have a look back into the routine updates shared by @vivek along the way.

Zcash Media and Nighthawk are different stories, I think you’re not off base to suggest that their engagement hasn’t been satisfactory.

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Agreed, Qedit definitely does not deserve to be on this list, they have done a gigantic amount of work and are actively engaged. Their ZSA work will have a huge impact on Zcash.

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Thanks for the suggestion @kworks and @ryan.taylor. I appreciate your passion for Zcash :heart:. For the record I’ve been on the committee for less than a year and these are the grants that have been approved while on the committee.

Project Grantee Total Amount (USD) Paid Out So Far (USD)
Crypto Lounge Experience and The Hunting of The Snark Inversed Tech 3,821.0 3,821.0
YWallet Maintenance and Minor Improvements Hanh 150,000.0 100,000.0
Zcash Wallet Community Developer Pacu 70,778.0 70,778.0
Zcash UniFFI Library addenda Eiger 144,000.0 144,000.0
Zcash User Research & Engagement (ZURE), Phase 1 Tatyana 35,000.0 35,000.0
Official Shielded Support for Zcash in Ledger Wallet Zondax 101,800.0 0.0
ZecHub, An open source education hub for Zcash ZecHub 44,980.0 37,764.0
Zcash Global <> Zcash Brazil Zcash Brazil 16,800.0 16,800.0
ZGo Support 2024 Vergara Technologies 16,100.0 8,050.0
Zcash Wallet Community Developer 2024 Pacu 45,200.0 30,200.0
The Nym mixnet for Network Privacy for Zcash Nym Technologies 150,000.0 0.0
Zenith Full Node Wallet Vergara Technologies 124,800.0 0.0
Proof of Balance Hanh 40,000.0 0.0
ZCash SDK Feasibility Study [JS/TS] ChainSafe 35,000.0 35,000.0
Transparent & Shielded DEX with Maya Protocol Hanh 110,000.0 0.0
Zcash Global <> Zcash Brazil Q2 2024 Zcash Brazil 16,800.0 5,600.0
Zcash Wallet Community Developer 2024 Q2 Pacu 45,000.0 0.0
Zcash Lightwalletd Infrastructure Development & Ops Emersonian & Zancas 45,000.0 11,250.0

Happy to discuss my time as a ZCG committee member and anything that could/should have been done differently. I believe it’s always important to remain critical and strive to find concrete ways to improve as a group and individually so always keen for constructive feedback :blush:.

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I must disagree with this being the “worst period” for ZGC, I would counter and say this has been a really good period. In general they have been much tighter with the purse strings and I have agreed with most of the grants issued. Also in the case of nighthawk, their funding was not renewed because they were non-preformant.

Obviously things aren’t perfect and there will be a lot of learnings from the zcash media debacle, but that has been debated ad nauseum in the other topic

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We are lucky to have each of these five ZCG members. They’ve navigated through difficult times with wisdom, honesty, and tact. How long did the spam attack go on, over a year? Remember when the only functioning wallet was a ZCG funded wallet? Be careful what you wish for.

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I’m against limiting people from re-running indefinitely on free elections. People can just choose not to vote for that person and that’s it.

If I limit the times someone can be elected in-a-row I’m just implying that “people don’t know how to vote” but not brave enough to say it.

I voted for kworks, he didn’t win but, who is kworks to tell me I can’t vote kworks again if I he had won 2 prior elections, ran for a third one and I considered he did well as ZCG member? :sweat_smile:

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ZCG - Small Business Development Program

Strengthening the community by adjusting ZCG:

a) Cap Grants to 500 000: This is in order not to concentrate resources into a small group.
b) Demand a clear Start Date from grantees.
c) Hold 25% of total grants into the final milestone as a completion requirement.
d) Demand content to be posted for community content growth. Example, demand that grantees create user guides and demos posted to zcash read the docs. How to Videos to zechub.xyz, or create a podcast explaining your work. Create 10 new community forum members. When requesting a grant.
e) ZCG Videos for past grantees, (this is how I did it).
f) ZCG needs product and services show case page for completed projects, stories, user docs and link to developer resource.
g) ZCG needs a method for weekly updates from grantees.
h) Create term limits for serving ZCG members in order to limit the concentration of influence from an individual or group.

ZCG Brand
a2) zcashcommunitygrants.org updated, current, fresh.
Develop:
Zcash Community Grants Dashboard - Google Sheets
Into ZCG branded page.

b2) Just as we demand zcg grantees to help produce content. We need to demand each ZCG member produce monthly content for its digital channels. The individuals can show blog posts about: industry market analysis, zcash network node counts, best security methods etc. In order to create current in the brand and capacity for future users.

Strategic Partnership:
Zcash needs to create demand. We need to create a funded program designed to purchase shelve space for ZEC. Example: ZCG partners with a regional Business Development Agency, “Canadian Youth Business Foundation” CYBF recipients can receive matching funds (CAD $15000) for business startup companies to use ZEC as a payment method for the new companies product or service for x amount of time. CYBF has already vetted these individuals and ZCG Small Business Program is creating demand for ZEC.

Zcash Small Business Program with Fair Trade Alliance (FTA). FTA has a mandate to empower economic freedom and fairness. ZCG Small Business Program wants to partner with FTA producer members who sell products globally.

These examples highlight the need for targeting organizations with similar mandates, large groups of members.

Retail Growth:
Zcash needs retail growth powered by its cost advantage.
We need a Zcash Business Account Developer. Similar to Community Wallet Developer, we need an individual with the sole focus of opening business accounts. For example: Opening a path for Zgo to be introduced to the Independent Store Association.

Independence
ZCG needs to have a financial audit, in order to know its true operating costs.
ZCG needs to create RFP for Strategic Business Consultant in order to advise how, and where to form and independent organization.
ZCG needs to start thinking about future board members.
ZCG needs Clear Strategic Goals
ZCG needs Action Plan

ZCG needs a strategy focused on retail business growth. We need to start funding groups who want to create demand and who use ZEC for conducting business. Let’s work together in order to target groups with users who share secure transactions as a value an offer Zcash Blockchain Network as the solution.

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Ok… We’re working with our grantees here. You sound like a mob! :laughing:

As to the content generation idea, while I think I understand the value proposition, I think it is unrealistic for at least the following reasons: For ZCG specifically, we’re already working overtime. If I were going to put in more hours at my own expense, I would spend more time on review, not marketing. Remember, we’re not even allocated 1/4 time for this. It’s supposed to be < 4 hours per week. Every extra hour put toward ZCG takes away from potential full time work. It’s kind of a lose-lose position that way. Put in less time, and it hurts conscientiousness. Put in more and it hurts personally.

And not everyone on ZCG has “content provider” skills, nor should they. The same goes for grantees. I do not want to budget in marketing time and skills to every grant. Let the reviewers review. Let the engineers code. It’s hard enough to get good grant proposals at reasonable prices without extra “demands”.

The kinds of things you’re describing might be a position we’d consider hiring for again, but not now. We’re already strained and having trouble selecting among the choices we have. Remember, we’ve already had a position for partnerships and outreach, and have had to put it on hold, largely for reasons of budgetary constraints.

ZCG is exploring independence ideas, but it’s all dependent on what happens with the Dev Fund. Since ZCG is administered by ZF right now, you can look to ZF transparency reports for financial details.

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Sounds more like a job, actually.

People usually get fired for not starting on time and failing to deliver.

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When I work for people or hire them we have agreements, not “demands”.

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Great discussions regarding the November Halving. One aspect which has been discussed by the bold ECC team is advancing the forming of Zcash Community Grants into its own legal entity.

Once the community makes a decision. The Zcash ecosystem community should also have the ability to vote on ZCG legal location.

ZCG - Located in Frankfurt, Geramny

Advantages:
Euro Advantage - Having exposure to the largest market in the world.
Legal - Stable legal system.
European Financial Center - European Central Bank, German Central Bank, Large supporting financial service sector.
Highly skilled work force
Demand for Secure Financial Transactions.

Please consider:

Zcash ecosystem should vote for a future ZCG location.

Vote to locate a future ZCG in Frankfurt.

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I think the ultimate goal of removing direct funding (as in a dao-like, grants-only funding model) is that no entity with an address (in a particular jurisdiction) will receive direct funds from the protocol. So, it will not matter much to the Zcash blockchain and community where some entity resides. No such domiciled entity should receive part of the block reward.

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If the Zcash Funding Bloc proposal is received by the community, one year extension is granted. In this one year period, if the Zcash Foundation follows through and ZCG is separated from the Foundation. I argue, ZCG legal location has influence an importance. I argue if ZCG separates from ZF, we as community should select a location for this new entity to be in a location with many positive attributes for future growth. Hence, suggesting Frankfurt for the above benefits.

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Any location in the EU is very hard to get behind. It will make it next to impossible to create wallets, use custody providers, use exchanges, etc. The MiCA and AMLR regulations could freeze all incoming zec and make anyone interacting with it subject to regulation.

Specifically from AMLR:

(93)The anonymity of crypto-assets exposes them to risks of misuse for criminal purposes. Anonymous crypto-asset wallets do not allow the traceability of crypto-asset transfers, whilst also making it difficult to identify linked transactions that may raise suspicion or to apply to adequate level of customer due diligence. In order to ensure effective application of AML/CFT requirements to crypto-assets, it is necessary to prohibit the provision and the custody of anonymous crypto-asset wallets by crypto-asset service providers.

and MiCA article 68:

The operating rules of the trading platform for crypto-assets shall prevent the admission to trading of crypto-assets which have inbuilt anonymisation function unless the holders of the crypto-assets and their transaction history can be identified by the crypto-asset service providers that are authorised for the operation of a trading platform for crypto-assets or by competent authorities.

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Hello!

Just to understand a bit your opinion, I would like to know: if you were a member of the ZCG, what projects would you support for funding? Under what premise?

It is interesting to know the vision of other people.

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If you would do it better and care about Zcash as much to put your feelings out like you are doing, you should run for it!

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Interesting proposals.

I think you should run for the ZCG.

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I insist:

You should apply to the ZCG, propose some ZIP, and talk to ECC.

All this is possible through consensus, contribution and proposal.

Otherwise, they are just empty criticisms.

Maybe things will not be done at the speed we expect and we will not see the results immediately, but we have to be ACTIVE.

Appearing only to criticize does not contribute anything to the process of change that we want to make.

You are welcome to the debate.

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