Thriving in Chaos. ZODL update

Ecosystem Updates
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I asked, “You must live with so much pain. How do you manage it?”

He answered, “A ketogenic diet. It saved my life. I don’t eat for fun anymore. I eat for fuel.”

The man I was speaking with, a former special operations veteran, had been in three helicopter crashes, had his nose ripped off his face, broken his neck twice, broken his back twice, been shot ten times, and stabbed three times.

And yet, here he was, sharing a meal and as alive as I have ever seen a man, currently working as a neuroscientist working with NASA on the long-term effects of space on the brain. And not just alive, but in incredible shape, and remarkably present as we talked. No distractions, focused and intentional.

I learned a few things from him over the week where we shared space.

Our devices and all the distractions they serve up are literally killing our brains.

And that we are easily distracted by measures and measurements. In health, the only thing meaningful is blood glucose, knowing which foods spike our sugar.

To thrive in chaos, perhaps counterintuitively, we should focus on one thing at a time. And if our work is to be impactful, that one thing should be the hard thing.

To reset your mind and body. Breathe deeply and hold it for a long time.

The Zcash core teams have always been disciplined with a clear focus. It’s what got us here. It is what will carry us forward.

Simple disciplines. Narrow focus. Thrive in chaos.

ZODL updates for the week.

Zodl (Mobile and Product)

  • Zodl iOS 3.4.1 and Android 3.4.1 released, a bug-fix rollup on both platforms.
  • Coinholder Polling (3.5.0): continued work on the polling flows in collaboration with the Valar Group team, including UI updates, business-logic fixes, and testing.
  • Senior Mobile QA function brought online. Harry onboarded as Senior Mobile QA.
  • Multi-server transaction broadcast (Android) and the Automatic/Manual server-selection redesign (iOS) both moved to In Review.

Looking ahead at Mobile and Product:

  • Finalize Coinholder Polling implementation and testing, targeting production release for the upcoming NU7 sentiment poll.
  • Scope the urgent Sapling to Orchard migration UX spike triggered by the ZIP 2005 merge.
  • Next up: Automatic/Manual Server Switch, Multi-Server Transaction Submission, and Multi-Currency Conversion.

Zodl iOS Analytics

  • Unique Installs: 42.5k (+0.6k)
  • Total Downloads: 50.6k (+0.7k)
  • App Store Rating: 4.9★ (no change)

Zodl Android Analytics

  • Install Base: 15.8k (+0.2k)
  • Total Installs (incl. Open Beta): 50.7k (+0.7k)
  • Play Store Rating: 4.24★ (no change)

NU7 Sentiment Polling and Coinholder Voting via Zodl

  • NU7 sentiment poll feedback window closes Monday, May 25. The six questions opened the prior week for community review (NSM issuance smoothing, NSM fee reissuance timing, Sprout deprecation for v4 transactions, memo bundles for Orchard, faster block times with per-pool action limits, and the NU7 ship-vs-wait schedule with a July 15 readiness clause) are in their final feedback days before the registration window opens.
  • Target polling window (subject to final software testing): May 25 feedback closes, June 1 registration closes, June 10 polling opens, June 24 polling closes, June 29 results.

Zcash Core (includes R&D)

Looking ahead on Core:

  • Focus on the remaining Zallet alpha.4 scope.
  • Finish implementation of the z_shieldcoinbase RPC (nearly done).
  • Drive the zcashd-migration bug batch to merge: a collection of PRs covering gaps in Zallet’s existing key import logic, parser updates for zewif-zcashd, a tool for building historical zcashd test wallets, and integration tests for full round-trip migration testing.
  • Sync-engine refactor for zcash_client_backend: unifying compact-block and full-tx processing and enabling full-block scanning (still in review).
  • Implement support for arbitrary t-to-t transactions.

Other / Company

  • New team members: Giulia started her first week as a Marketing Associate, Harry was onboarded as a Senior Mobile QA, and Danny Willems will join on May 27 as a Principal Cryptographic Engineer.
  • Marketing: Zodl × Slope brand engagement continuing, including kickoff of the Summit branding conversation.
  • ZODL Summit invites opened (forum post, X post). The ZODL Summit (previously the Z|ECC Summit) is the twice-yearly working gathering of Zcash contributors and ecosystem partners. July 8 to 10 in Prague, Czech Republic. Apply here.
  • We’re hiring. Open roles at jobs.ashbyhq.com/zodl.

Market and Ecosystem

Disciplined,

Onward.

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