May the 4th be with you, Zcash community! 
Since last week saw the end of our first engineering sprint, we’re now in the middle of the second sprint so I figure it makes sense to try and talk more about community related updates on the off week. So going forward, I’ll alternate these weekly reports between engineering and community/communications. Next week will be the end of our second engineering sprint and I’ll therefore have a recap of the various engineering teams sprint work. Note that each release cycle contains 3 sprints and that we are still in heavy dev mode for both implementing Sapling consensus code for the next release so we can activate it on test net in the following weeks and also external preparations for Overwinter activation at block height 347500.
From the blog…
If you haven’t yet seen it, we’re experimenting with a new program to streamline community feedback of services in the Zcash ecosystem. We’re calling this the Community Spotlight and our first project comes from Zcash Foundation grant program backed Guarda wallet. So check out that blog and if you’re interested in testing the user experience in Guarda, use the form linked from the blog to let us and Guarda know your thoughts!
If you have suggestions for future Community Spotlights, let us know!
In more recent news, we’re delighted to hear about support for Zcash in Circle Invest announced this week.
Upcoming events
We have a lot of events coming up that we’re thrilled to participate in and engage with the community at!
This Sunday, we’re speaking at the Colorado Springs Blockchain & Crypto entrepreneurs meetup and next week will be attending the Blockchain Summit Latam so come say hello if you’ll be at either of those! Next week we’re also giving a remote presentation to the Blockchain Online Forum hosted by the Seoul Crypto Club.
The following week is a big week for us! As part of our sponsorship of 100 student passes for Consensus, we’re kicking off the week in New York with a session to greet the students and pass out some swag. Once Consensus commences the next day, several of us will be on the ground to meet potential and existing third parties in the ecosystem, engage with Zcash users and developers and generally promote and educate folks on the upcoming network upgrades. Zooko will also be doing a fireside chat with Dr. Whitfield Diffie to round out the first day.
In addition, we’ll be participating in the the New York Women in Blockchain meetup that week to talk about Zcash in Venezuela and then popping down to DC to present at the DC Blockchain Users Group. Come say hi if you’re around!
On the other side of the US, we’re participating in Boulder Startup Week where we’ll talk about opportunities in the blockchain industry.
Next week we’re hosting a special presentation from Zcash advisor, Joseph Bonneau about Hostile blockchain takeovers which is particularly relevant to the ongoing community discussions about ASIC resistance in Zcash.
Zcon0 & the Foundation
We’re starting to send out letters to applicants of Zcon0. If you haven’t fill out the form yet and are interested in joining us in Montreal this Summer, definitely consider applying to attend. This application process is mostly so we can consider financial aid needs and filter out people who are only engaging to promote unrelated projects, ICOs, etc.
Also, don’t forget to check out the governance proposal for the Zcash Foundation including their plan for a community governance panel which will vote on issues like board elections and ballot measures (i.e. should Zcash actively resist ASICs?).
That’s all for this week! I’ll be back next week with summaries of each engineering team’s sprint work!
