I ran in Nov 2025, and I’m running again…here’s what’s the same…
Hello, I’m Mylo Bennett aka Ready Mouse.
LinkedIn | GitHub: ReadyMouse | Twitter: @zreadymouse
Why I Want to Serve on ZCG
Having written and won $18M+ in technical proposals, I understand both sides of the grant process, what makes a compelling proposal and what leads to successful execution. As a PM overseeing engineering teams, I’ve evaluated countless technical milestones and learned to distinguish between promising ideas and deliverable roadmaps. I’m comfortable saying “no” to technically impressive but impractical proposals. ZCG has finite resources and I want to help ensure we fund projects that actually ship and move the needle.
Passion for Zcash
To me, it feels like Bitcoin is a religion, Ethereum is a utility, but Zcash is a currency. The Zodl team has done an amazing job at creating an actually useable app for transacting in the world with practical applications. I want to spend my time and effort on projects I am passionate about; projects I want to see in the world.
Vision for Zcash
I want Zcash to replace Venmo at the peer-to-peer payment systems and to become the preferred coin for point of sales systems at cafes and vendors. To get there, we need technology to scale (Tachyon), infrastructure for reliability (Crosslink), plus education and marketing. I see Crosslink as a good path forward for hybrid PoS/PoW - reducing time to finality for coffee-shop transactions while keeping PoW’s contingency mode for robustness. I’m excited for Tachyon’s rollout to improve scalability. ZECHUB is doing educational content, and I’d love to see ZCG fund more outreach, marketing, and developer relations to boost Zcash’s presence in the larger crypto ecosystem.
To Achieve the Vision
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Merchant adoption tools: point-of-sale integrations, accounting software, business-facing tools that make it easy for cafes and vendors to accept ZEC (@Kenbak of CipherPay is making significant progress here!)
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Education and outreach: Continued funding for new and established marketeers and outreach ambassadors (Such as @elzz-ux education grant, @ryan.taylor’s ZK AV club, and my own marketing events)
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Mass adoption infrastructure: payment rails, invoicing tools, recurring payment systems or accepted integration into current systems, the boring but essential infrastructure
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Developer relations and marketing: boost Zcash’s presence in the larger crypto and financial ecosystem (Continuing @pacu’s work and related efforts)
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Accountability: clear milestones and regular check-ins for funded projects
I’m skeptical about ZSAs, but would be interested in seeing an algorithmic stable coin if someone was to build it. For ZSAs in general, I worry about Zcash becoming muddled with hundreds of low-quality tokens without clear use cases. I would be more excited about privacy-preserving smart contracts rather than just private tokens. Companies like Aztec, Railgun, and Fhenix are bringing privacy to the programmable Ethereum ecosystem, and could move adoption towards these systems over Zcash. With Zcash’s core ethos of being a currency, rather than a utility for DeFi, smart contracts seem like an intriguing but later-stage consideration. An L2, like the proposed Ztarknet, might be an interesting way to add programmability without modifying the existing Zcash Layer 1 system.
Technical Background
I have a background in Mathematics, signal processing, ML and data pipelines. I spent 10 years as a defense contractor working on radar systems, writing proposals and winning over $18M in contracts. I deeply know the pain, passion, and late night cramming it takes to write a technical proposal, and then the nail-biting wait for a response. My role as Senior Product Manager overseeing teams of engineers has given me the tools to evaluate technical progress, assess team capabilities, and understand key stakeholders. I’ve evaluated proposals from both sides - I know the red flags: overly optimistic schedules, missing expertise, vague milestones.
Earlier Community Involvement
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Collaborated with @emersonian on a Lightwallet Node Workshop
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Attended devConnect in Buenos Aires with fabacab, onboarding 35+ new Zashi users and recording with the ZK AV Club (@ryan.taylor and @zerodartz ). Connected with @pacu and Jason @aquietinvestor.
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Won 3rd place in the ZECHUB hackathon with Banana Betting, a banana-themed sports betting/prediction market
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2025 Conferences: Attended ETHDenver, Consensus Toronto, Monerokon in Prague, devConnect in Argentina, Boston Blockchain Week, and Permissionless in Brooklyn
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Attended @paulbrigner 's PGP in DC
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Co-hosted workshops for at-risk and de-banked community members with Fabacab
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Attendee of the Boston Zcash Meetup (@BostonZcash )
Here’s what’s new…
Since my last submission, I have lead a team to bring zcash to major crypto events. Based on my demonstrated success in Buenos Aires, I applied for a grant to attend ETHBoulder + ETHDenver. After that I wrote a double event grant for both ETHCC Cannes and Exxxotica Chicago, to bring privacy preserving zcash to France and then adult industry folks who deeply know the pain of being banned off main stream payment apps. Following those successes, my team is planning for Zcash’s presence Berlin Blockchain Week, for our largest zcash outreach and marketing event of the year (grant).
The statistics from my team’s marketing efforts.
ETHBoulder + ETHDenver (Feb 2026)
Attended with Fabacab and Cos as a three-person team. The Zcash shirts drew constant attention and we were regularly approached unprompted.
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51 new Zodl downloads
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275 individual interactions (tracked via “Protection is ZECsy” condoms distributed)
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I presented “Private Payment Processors” at ETHBoulder covering ZGo, BTCPay + Zcash plugin, and NOWPayments (pre-cipherpay’s launch)
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Secured event collaboration agreements with @WebZero (Berlin Blockchain Week) and Bitrefill
ETHCC + ETHGlobal Cannes (May 2026)
Attended with Fabacab as a two-person team. Cannes is deliberately intimate, with small venue side events rather than large convention floors, producing fewer but deeper connections.
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20 new Zodl downloads
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~150 individual interactions
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Had lunch with @paulbrigner of ZODL to discuss how grassroots outreach can connect with ZODL’s BD work. Follow-on discussions with Paul and ZODL’s Business development Daniel Sequeria (linkedIn not sure his forum handle)
Exxxotica Chicago (Apr 2026)
Attended with Fabacab, Bianca Stone, and Kat. A full booth at an adult entertainment industry convention under the “Zcash Kitchen” concept, targeting content creators and performers who face payment platform bans and financial deplatforming.
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~700 individual interactions
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2 new Zcash advocates and educators trained (Bianca and Kat)
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On Day 3, a content creator returned to the booth to ask for technical support integrating CipherPay (@Kenbak’s project) into his website, having been inspired by our first conversation the day before
Zcash Blockspäti at Berlin Blockchain Week (June 2026)
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2-day, 3 night zcash branded activation with onboarding mechanics, workshops, collaborations with small business vendors, crypto privacy organizations and raves
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Organized the hiring of @WebZero events company for on-site support, catering, DJs, party planning, event management, and logistics
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Fabacab and Cos will be joining along with Justine, a former-student of Fabacab’s workshop, turned zcash ambassador
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Current Luma’s for event:
Other Approved Grants
- DWeb Camp (grant approved)
Transparency and Conflicts of Interest
I want to continue my marketing and outreach efforts; and being on the ZCG committee will give me further insight to accurately represent the Zcash ecosystem. If elected, I will abstain from voting on any grants I personally submit. In line with the larger marketing vision I’ve outlined, I intend to submit grants for continued grassroots outreach at Exxxotica New Jersey and Miami, and will pursue additional opportunities as they arise, such as Amsterdam’s Cypherpunk week (Zcash is already a sponsor of Common S3nse event) or devConnect in Mumbai. I will recuse myself from those votes as a matter of course.
I would love to be at Zcon7 in Cancun, to stand up in front of this amazing and diverse community alongside Fabacab and Cos to present a full year of marketing efforts, the conversations we engaged in, the wallets downloaded, and the people whose understanding of financial privacy was changed.
Just for fun! Selfies with new Zodl users from across events, and random interactions in my daily life.
