Thinking Big. ZODL Update

Ecosystem Updates
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This week, Artemis II splashed down after traveling almost 695k miles around the moon. It was the farthest humans have ever traveled from Earth, over 250k miles from home. Someday, humans will see this as trivial. But today, it’s amazing.

If you aren’t aware, the first phase of our new journey to the moon was Artemis I in 2022, and the next will be Artemis III, featuring a lunar landing in 2028. From there, we’ll begin annual trips to build a permanent base that will allow us to test the life support, habitat systems, propulsion, robots, equipment, and crew endurance we’ll need to reach Mars. One key piece of infrastructure will be SpaceX’s electromagnetic mass drivers, which will allow us to overcome the gravitational friction of launching materials from our planet.

The mission to get to Mars felt fantastical when I first heard Elon’s vision. I never thought I’d see it in my lifetime. But with a grand vision and incredible focus, the path now feels inevitable. We accomplish seemingly impossible feats when we think big and focus on the breakthroughs that will lead to outsized outcomes.

I spent time this week with @zkDragon and his team, @ebfull, and @nuttycom to talk through the Zcash roadmap and approaches to post-quantum Zcash, scalability, and performance. One thing that I love about Dev is that he doesn’t see impossibilities. He dreams big, but then gets down to the practical approaches and solutions we need to get the outcome we want, undaunted by the scope or all the “reasons” it can’t be done.

At ZODL, we envision a world without mass financial surveillance, where law⁠-⁠abiding people can transact freely and privately, without fear that their data will be exploited, sold, or weaponized by criminals, corporations, or governments. To do that, we need to get ZEC into the hands of billions of people, and our focus is on delivering an unparalleled user experience at scale. We don’t have decades, only a small window. Dev challenged me this week not only to think big but also to deliver faster. He suggested that all of our priorities in the Zcash ecosystem ruthlessly focus on three things:

  1. Post Quantum

  2. Scale

  3. UX (no shielded sync, no latency in spendability, and a myriad of new capabilities)

I really like that direction. It’s focused, directional, actionable, and achievable.

We have been on our own multi-stage arc.

Zcash I: introduced zero-knowledge-delivered privacy using zkSNARKs.

Zcash II: set the foundations for scale through the releases of Sapling and Orchard.

Zcash III: allowed people to easily access and use shielded ZEC through Zodl (formerly Zashi).

and now,

With Zcash IV, we’re building our moon base and the mass drivers we need to securely scale the protocol and apps to billions of users.

For many, a digital world where all people can transact freely, without surveillance, seems out of reach. But not for us.

Zodl (formerly Zashi)

  • Zodl 3.3.0 is live on both iOS and Android. The release adds the ability to disconnect a Keystone hardware wallet from Settings, updates the Zcash SDK to 2.4.8, and includes UX and UI fixes across both platforms.

  • Released Zodl 3.3.1 on Android with a fix for a Flexa payment issue.

  • Keystone with Wallet Birthday Height and Resync Wallet features are being finalized and will ship in Zodl 3.4.0.

  • Finalized designs for Coinholder Polling, Receive redesign, Transparent address rotation, and Import of UIVK/UFVK.

Zodl iOS Analytics

  • Unique Installs: 40k (+0.5k)

  • Total Downloads: 47.3k (+0.8k)

  • App Store Rating: 4.9★ (no change)

Zodl Android Analytics

  • Install Base: 15.4k (-0.2k)

  • Total Installs (incl. Open Beta): 48k (+1k)

  • Play Store Rating: 4.22★ (-0.04)

Zcash Core (includes R&D)

  • Created test vectors for ZIP 316 Revision 2 addresses, UIVKs, and UFVKs - solidifying the spec for unified address handling across wallets.

  • Fixed a bug in the listaddresses RPC and several other issues. Provided support for the wallet team on Rewind method UX.

  • The remaining Zallet alpha.4 release scope is unblocked and progressing.

Other

Thinking big,

Onward.

12 Likes
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A bad omen for them. The more draconian you become, the more likely you will create the exact outcome you fear.

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This doesn’t happen overnight. For years, they’ll condition you to believe that resistance is futile. The strongest will be punished. The rest will keep their eyes to the floor and pretend nothing is happening. Eventually, the remaining dissenters will leave and try to effect change from places where they’re harder to reach. But they’ll be declared outlaws, and their relatives will face trouble. Their will will also be subjugated, while the one who thinks he’s in charge is welcomed with open arms on the red carpet. So this could happen to any country. And it doesn’t come from the people. The people are blind at first, and by the time they realize it, it’s already too late.