Is 4 years long enough for the Founders Reward?

General
1

Does anyone have thoughts on why the duration for the Founders Reward was set to 4 years (and not longer)?

The point I’m trying to get at is: What incentive does Zcash Co have after 4 years to continue to improve the protocol? What prevents Zooko+team from dumping and walking away?

I understand the Foundation is meant to take over by then, but is 4 years enough time to build a ‘critical mass’? Does anyone know Zooko’s thoughts on this?

2 Likes
2

I see where you are coming from but hopefully by then zcash has built a strong enough coin where the developments it needs are just tweaks that wont cost much.

3

To make a comparison:
holding stocks of your own company is pretty much the same…

4

This is pertinent

1 Like
5

Just to be clear, my own preference is for the 4 year period to be longer, not shorter.

I think that it is better to overshoot than to undershoot.

1 Like
6

4 years is the default length of time that it takes for stock options to vest at a startup company. For example, if you were hired at Coinbase and got stock options as part of your compensation, you would receive 1/48th of those stock options every month for 4 years.

On top of that, 4 years is the halving period for Zcash so it already exists as a milestone date in the coin distribution schedule.

I believe those 2 reasons together made 4 years feel like the right number.

By the way, this is not a comment on whether the Zcash network would be better off with a longer vesting period for the founder’s reward. I’m just trying to answer the question of where the number 4 comes from.

2 Likes
7

4 years is also the time of the first halving period, that’s the simplest explanation.

It’s not clear yet how the foundation will “take over”. What about hiring the Zcash Co engineers to continue working? Or use the grant program for core development funding? It might depend on the technical roadmap, will there be another major new feature to develop or mostly maintenance at that point? Have any other ideas?

2 Likes
8

Oh wow, I am looking for a different post, but I hadnt seen this one before.

These are all still pretty legit questions

2 Likes