Hello everybody!
I post this topic in “Governance”, although it directly related to grants, it is not Grants proposal.
Disclaimer
I’m ZCAP-member and at the same time an ambassador in Russian language community. I receive a grant award as an ambassador in ZEC (denominated in US dollars).
The question I want to raise for discussion is both simple and complex. The simple question itself, but not the answer. So… should the fund of community grants have a lower limit for the ZEC price when paying for grants? For example, $1000 is a thousand dollars at actual prices, but not lower than $35 per coin and at an actual price of $30, the calculation will be made at a price of $35.
UPD I deleted a lot of overloaded information and left only this question.
Hi @artkor. Thanks for your question. We want to provide some high level details on how we’ve been managing the Zcash Community Grants (ZCG) treasury during this crypto winter.
ZCG is committed to managing its treasury responsibly. While our priority is to fund teams to work on ecosystem projects, we also have a duty to be good fiduciaries in order to support the growth and development of the Zcash ecosystem over the long term. We strive to ensure that funds are used wisely, effectively, and efficiently to achieve ZCG’s goals during these challenging market conditions.
There are two major approaches we have taken. First, we have become more selective when approving grant proposals in order to conserve funds and preserve our treasury. While we remain committed to supporting new and innovative projects, we prioritize proposals that are most aligned with the program’s objectives and that have the greatest potential for success. The vast majority of major grant recipients this year have been core teams (e.g. Zcash Media, NightHawk, Free2z, etc.) with proven track records and ongoing, long-term projects.
Second, the ZCG committee believes that a disciplined approach to budgeting is essential to sustaining the program over the long term, particularly during periods of market uncertainty. To that end, we capped the amount of funding mobile wallet teams are eligible to receive for maintenance and development. We also cancelled a number of inactive grants, which allowed us to reclaim some of the funding reserved for incomplete milestones. We will continue to regularly assess ZCG’s financial position and work with grantees to set realistic budgets for each project we approve.
Thank you for the detailed answer, but it does not answer my question. I have absolutely no questions about the accepted grants, I highly appreciate the ZCG’s work and I think that you are doing it perfectly.
I suggest thinking about whether we need a price stopcock for grants when the ZEC drops to extremely low values. Or the fund will spend ZEC at any price and there are no limits (which would be strange). Most grants are priced in dollar terms, respectively, the lower the ZEC price, the more they need to be spent.
It seems that you’re contemplating whether or not there should be some elements of fiscal responsibility paid with regard to how ZEC funds are committed for liquidation on various timelines and various total sizes, and whether or not market conditions should play a role in determining when those ZEC for those grants are appropriate or not for conversion into USD and distribution.
I absolutely do not know what mechanisms can take place. I clearly understand that this is a difficult topic, but it is impossible to ignore it. The ZEC price is already in an uncomfortable zone. We can close our eyes and just believe in the fairness of the market, but at some point the fund will not be able to fulfill its obligations in full. Perhaps I don’t understand the current obligations of the fund well, but the budget is always made up of some average coin price.
For grant recipients, it may not matter at all how many coins they receive, because in dollars it will be a fixed amount and they will immediately send it to the exchange, since their costs are expressed in dollars. But this behavior drops the price even lower. And I’m not sure that retail investors continue to be attracted by this state of affairs.
No, we will not spend ZEC at any price. If the price of ZEC continued to drop lower, we would stop approving grants until it recovered. We have discussed creating a third “hold” category for grants we want to approve, but don’t feel comfortable funding given the value of ZEC.
That is encouraging because it represents what I will call financial responsibility. These ZEC received into the ZCG are intended to be best deployed to best serve the next few centuries of Zcash users, builders, merchants, and creators.
We should treat each ZEC spent with utmost respect. Hopefully the board strays away from paying for $3,000 parachute campaigns (as an example). TM3K has since then left Zcash community and speaks negatively about us online.
Just want to point out that not every grant recipient is selling ZEC to dollars after they earn it. Imho, in current conditions, folks should be earning and saving , not spending unless they have no choice. Appreciate your thoughts.
Of course not all. For example, I won’t do that. But for many, these are the means to repay mandatory expenses and cover costs. I’m only in favor if all grants, without exception, are nominated in ZEC, and not in dollars. And while they are denominated in dollars, we are saying that dollars have priority and there can be no discrepancies. (When some team at some point says that their priorities have changed, I understand that they no longer have ZEC.)
It’s not about who will do what. I’m not trying to speak for everyone and these are unpromising judgments. It’s about what ZCG should or shouldn’t do when the price falls. I got the answer, it suits me.