An honest update on ZecMap: a cleaner map, and what comes next
ZecMap started with a simple goal. Show, in one place, the businesses around the world where you can actually pay with Zcash. Over the past few weeks we spent a lot of time making that map more honest, and we want to walk you through what changed and where we are taking it.
We cleaned up the map
We decided to remove some listings we could not stand behind, so the map reflects places we can actually back.
What stays on the map comes from three places: our Flexa integration, businesses that real users added, and listings we added ourselves. That mix is the base we are building on, and verification is how we plan to keep it honest from here.
The directory grows with real adoption
Here is the principle we are holding to. The map should grow with adoption, not ahead of it.
As more merchants start accepting Zcash, we will keep adding them in waves. We would rather you trust every pin than pad the map with places we cannot vouch for. If a place is on the map, we want that to mean something.
Verification is coming
This is the next big step. We are going to reach out by email to every business on the map and ask them to confirm, in their own words, that they accept Zcash. The ones that confirm get a verified mark on their listing.
The idea is simple. When you are standing outside a shop deciding whether to walk in, you should be able to trust that the pin is real. Verification turns the map from a list of maybes into a list of places you can count on.
What we already shipped
Two things landed recently.
First, the form for listing a business got stricter and more useful. A photo is now required, so every listing has a face. Contact matters too, so we ask for a phone number or a Telegram handle, and at least one of them is required. A category and a short description are required as well. The result is that new listings carry real information instead of a bare name and a dot on a map. It also makes our job easier, because the people reviewing submissions can now see the photo while they approve a listing.
Second, we built a new Adoption page. It is a live look at how far Zcash has spread in the real economy. You will find a world map with a marker on every country that has businesses accepting Zcash, the running totals for businesses and countries, a growth line over time, and the leading countries and categories. Every number on that page is counted straight from the live directory, so it is always current. You can see it at zecmap.com/adoption.
Where this is going
None of this is finished, and that is the point. ZecMap is a community project, and it gets better when real people add the places they know and when shop owners tell us they take Zcash.
If you run a business that accepts it, add your listing. If you know one, put it on the map. And if you just want to watch adoption move, the Adoption page is the place to keep an eye on.
Thanks for being part of it.
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