Hello, T.S.! I have started reading An Ode to Rough Consensus but haven’t yet given it the careful reading that it obviously deserves. I just wanted to jump in on this point because I think you made a mistake in the above: the bigger tap is already off! Or rather, the bigger tap is already going into a lockbox, just like our ZIP Future Dev and Legal Defense Fund Lockbox proposes to do to the ZCG 8% funding stream.
So our proposal is not shutting off the 8% while leaving the 12% running—it establishes a current treasury and a safe long-term lockbox, the same way that the 12% is currently structured.
Here’s a breakdown of the current situation:
| Stream | Fund | Today (8 Nov 2026) |
|---|---|---|
 8% (Zcash Community Grants) |
  ZCG treasury (spendable by ZCG) |
127M |
 12% (Coinholder-Controlled Fund) |
CCF treasury (spendable by coin vote plus ECC/ZF/SL) |
91M |
 CCF Lockbox (unspendable until a future ZIP) |
98M | |
 NSM |
for future issuance | 0.5M |
Key: =receives ongoing issuance, =treasury, =lockbox, =Coinholder-Controlled Fund, =Zcash Community Grants, =Network Sustainability Mechanism
All values are in USD, assuming $1300/ZEC. This is a lot of money!
And here’s what would happen over the next two years if nothing changes:
| Stream | Fund | Today (8 Nov 2026) | Nov 2028 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8% (Zcash Community Grants) |
ZCG treasury (spendable by ZCG) |
127M | 267M |
| 12% (Coinholder-Controlled Fund) |
CCF treasury (spendable by coin vote plus ECC/ZF/SL) |
91M | 91M |
| CCF Lockbox (unspendable until a future ZIP) |
98M | 308M | |
| NSM |
for future issuance | 0.5M | 0.5M |
And here’s what will happen if our ZIP is approved (assuming it activates December 15):
| Stream | Fund | Today (8 Nov 2026) | 15 Dec 2026 (activation) | Nov 2028 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8% (Zcash Community Grants) |
ZCG treasury (spendable by ZCG) |
127M | 69M | 69M |
| Future Dev & Legal Defense Fund Lockbox (unspendable until a future ZIP) |
0 | 0 | 133M | |
| 12% (Coinholder-Controlled Fund) |
CCF treasury (spendable by coin vote plus ECC/ZF/SL) |
91M | 91M | 91M |
| CCF Lockbox (unspendable until a future ZIP) |
98M | 108M | 308M | |
| NSM |
for future issuance | 0.5M | 65M | 65M |
So the in our proposal above show that ongoing issuance flows into lockboxes, not into treasuries.
ZCG acknowledges that they have more funding in their live treasury than they are comfortable with and want to do something about it.
These are good problems to have, folks! These are success problems. Zcash is so important, and has so much money and opportunity, that we need to up our game in managing it, together. 
We believe our ZIP is a decent compromise between various groups and preferences, and is a good next step in the endless process of improving Zcash governance.