Hi everyone,
I’m excited to announce my candidacy for a third term as a committee member for Zcash Community Grants. While the past year has been challenging, I am proud of the resilience we’ve shown and the accomplishments we’ve achieved. I remain positive about the future of Zcash and am prepared to put in the work needed to help our ecosystem grow and succeed. There’s still a lot to do, and I’m looking forward to the opportunity to continue to serve the community in 2024.
A few notable accomplishments from the past year:
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Support Following ECC Restructuring: In response to ECC’s restructuring, ZCG communicated our commitment to support the ecosystem and address potential gaps. True to our word, we onboarded Pacu as Ecosystem Wallet Developer, Beth as Outreach Coordinator, and supported Tatyana’s continued research on user adoption. We’re set to further assist Zcash’s decentralization efforts in 2024.
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Navigating Funding Limitations: Despite the bear market negatively impacting our funding, we managed to support core grant recipients essential to ongoing development. We negotiated grant amounts and imposed funding caps on mobile wallet developers, which were difficult, but necessary actions to manage our resources effectively. I’m satisfied with how we handled these constraints to ensure ongoing support for development.
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Increased Operational Efficiency: Over the past year, the committee has successfully streamlined its processes, resulting in a more efficient workflow. For example, we’ve reduced the average time from proposal submission to decision from four-to-six weeks in 2022 to two-to-four weeks this year. This improvement is especially notable for large grant proposals. Overall, we’ve become more efficient and productive, and good teamwork has been a key factor in this progress.
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Education-Focused Grants: One of my goals last year was for ZCG to increase support for educational grants. Currently, approximately 5% of the total funds allocated by ZCG have been directed to community-driven education initiatives. Projects like ZecHub, the Global Ambassador Program, Zcash Brasil, and Free2z have created valuable educational content. The collaboration among these groups has been particularly commendable, and I look forward to seeing this continue in 2024.
A few things I hope to help accomplish in 2024:
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Better Treasury Management: Managing a treasury denominated in a volatile asset is incredibly challenging. ZCG must improve its budgeting strategies to help ensure adequate funding for future projects. Implementing techniques like hedging is necessary for financial stability and consistent project support. I am confident that we can achieve this without overly burdening the operational capacity of the Zcash Foundation.
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Improved Grantee Communication: We need to establish clearer communication guidelines for grantees. There have been too many instances where community members have asked for status updates from grantees that went unanswered. Regular updates on project statuses are essential. This transparency will help address questions and concerns from community members.
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Attracting Established Teams: Our ecosystem needs more teams from well-resourced companies, similar to QEDIT and Equilibrium, capable of long-term, diverse projects. Potential partnerships with organizations like Chainsafe and candidates for the Ecosystem Security Lead role are a step in the right direction. Additionally, encouraging individual developers to form sustainable companies is equally important for ecosystem resilience. Hanh has made good progress here, and I’m looking forward to seeing how his team evolves in 2024.
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Supporting a Grantee to become a Dev Fund Recipient: It would be great to see a current grantee become a Dev Fund recipient in 2024. We should encourage this transition for grantees who have proven their ability to collaborate effectively on long-term projects within the ecosystem. QEDIT’s work on Zcash Shielded Assets makes them a deserving candidate for the Dev Fund. I believe that this would also validate ZCG’s role in decentralizing the ecosystem.
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Preparing for Dev Fund 2024: With the Dev Fund concluding in late 2024, I want to actively participate in shaping the future of ZCG. Over time, I hope to see ZCG evolve into a more independent and autonomous entity. We recently posted a draft ZIP that describes our collective perspective for how the next iteration of ZCG should be structured. Whether it continues as a dev fund recipient or not, planning for this transition is essential for our continued success.
Thank you to everyone who has supported my candidacy. Serving on the committee has been a valuable experience. I’ve especially enjoyed working with my fellow committee members whose diverse perspectives add unique insights that enhance our discussions and decision-making process. Also, thank you to the Zcash Foundation for the excellent support they provide. I’m looking forward to building on the progress we’ve made, and would be honored to continue to serve on the committee in 2024.
Thank you,
Jason McGee
Thank You, Jason!