May 7, 2020 - Weekly Forum Update

Ecosystem Updates Weekly Forum Updates
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We’re firing on all cylinders y’all! Here are the updates from this week:

  • Features have been selected for NU4. ECC reviewed these proposed features with the Zcash Foundation and reached agreement on the inclusion of the six ZIPs selected for NU4, subject to the outcome of security audits.

  • NU4 needs a codename. Like the suggestions and submit your own. The name will be announced at the next Zeal call, 5/26.

  • Zcash Foundation announced plans for a Zcash-Cosmos pegzone. You can read more about that here.

  • Earlier this week, we hosted the Zcash Gardening Club. The recording is up on Youtube.

  • Forbes profiled Zooko and the RAND report, a study commissioned by ECC to study the use of Zcash for illicit purposes. TLDR - “while privacy coins may intuitively appear likely to be preferred by malicious actors due to their purported anonymity-preserving features, there is little evidence to substantiate this claim.” Messari and The Block also picked up the story. Check out @joshs’s perspective on commissioning the report.

  • Not into dark markets? Neither are Zcashers. Check out the State of Adoption to learn about the primary ways Zcash is used today.

  • Mark your calendars,

    • Mon, 5/11, ECC will be at three different talks during Consensus: Distributed. We’ll be making a special announcement you won’t want to miss! Register: The world's leading event & networking platform.

    • Tues, 5/19, ECC Livestream: Highlights include our R&D, Engineering, and Growth flight plan, overview of flyclient, viewing keys for 2.1.2, a preview of our upcoming Gitcoin hackathon & an update on community efforts.

  • Community Shout Outs - This section celebrates the contributions to Zcash made by folks outside of ECC and Foundation.

    • Shout out to all the moms of Zcash, especially Mrs. T, whose touching tribute now lives forever, etched on the ZECpages board.
    • Shout out to @oxarbitrage and @anon16456014 for your Community PRs

DevInfra Team

  • Working through final details of testnet-n-a-box deploy
  • Completed initial internal audit of infrastructure

Core Team

Security Team

  • Negotiated for an opportunity to work with Aditdya
  • External assessment of Heartwood has been completed
  • Review of Android wallet started
  • Beginning investigation to optimize fuzzer launch this sprint

Wallet Team

This week in privacy, Zoom bought Keybase. Plaid gets sued. Contact-tracing becomes mandatory in India. China is working on global standards by 2035. “The strategic game among big powers is no longer limited to market scale competition or that for technological superiority. It is more about competition over system design and rule-making.” What a different perspective? Is government surveillance any worse than surveillance capitalism? Check out this 16-month ethnographic study of Chinese perceptions of the social credit system.

In crypto news, Bitcoin halving is next week. PTJ longs Bitcoin. Libra got a CEO. Matthew Green discusses privacy and the digital dollar. Open Finance value proposition presented at Ethereal. DeFi Discussions organized by Dystopia Labs had some great sessions. Publish0x a Zcash Review and Mining guide. Our very own Daira served as moderator on a ZK-Proofs session; topics ranged from Polynomial Protocols and PLONK. That’s all for now, have a great weekend y’all.

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