Some of you may recognize me from Twitter as @_tm3k where I am known as the ‘Zcash robot’ and coined the commonly touted phrase ‘1 ZEC = 7 BTC.’ I’ve been involved with trading cryptocurrencies since 2014, and I am also an admin in the Zcash community telegram. I have always been interested in contributing to the expansion of Zcash as a whole, beginning with GPU mining Zcash in its infancy, and progressing to z9’s as the technology advanced. Most people know me for my unwavering love and enthusiasm for Zcash over the past several years, and even if my presence in the Zcash community is completely unrecognizable to you in this moment, I hope that my proposal for my candidacy to be on the Major Grant Review Committee leaves a lasting impression.
As a pseudo-anonymous presence on the internet, what drew me to ZEC the most was its unique stance on privacy and the inclusion of completely shielded transactions. Hal Finney, a personal hero of mine, wanted bitcoin to have more anonymity, as did Satoshi. As a full time investor and trader, I also saw the lack of privacy as the major shortcoming of Bitcoin and looked forward to the day when this flaw was adequately resolved. Zcash solved this problem, and so my allegiance began to grow. My public-facing presence which lies mostly on Twitter is now synonymous with Zcash, but I want to use my faith in this project to continuously expand and progress. Last year I submitted my own grant proposal for a Zcash-emblazoned parachute, not only because it would have been awesome to fly it and create marketing material, but I also wanted to familiarize myself with the new grant proposal process and features. Although my proposal wasn’t entirely funded, I valued the experience to connect with the Zcash community and pitch my proposal in a creative way. This overall positive experience made me jump into this candidacy proposal to be on the MGRC with no hesitation.
I have never been employed by the ECC or ZF, and have no affiliations or ties with any other cryptocurrencies or groups which would present a conflict of interest. I am willing to reveal my identity to the ECC/ZF as determined necessary if I am elected. I strongly believe in privacy-protected digital currencies, and encourage community involvement and outreach to continue driving Zcash’s success forward. As a potential member of the MGRC, I would insist that each proposal adhere to three basic criteria when being reviewed for a grant: a concise and achievable roadmap including a feasible budget, team members/developers with a verifiable and transparent positive track record to ensure community trust, and the ultimate goal to develop something that benefits Zcash in a new or better way. I am mostly interested in projects that intend to develop cross chain interoperability, atomic swaps, and decentralized exchanges. I am also excited to fund projects that increase the ease of use and ease of access to Zcash for users that aren’t tech savvy. I will be transparent in my voting and am willing to explain how and why I voted on a proposal in the manner that I did, as I believe even a proposal rejection can be grounds for improvement and learning. In the name of transparency, I think it is important that the MGRC members are adequately compensated for their time and efforts and this compensation should also be general public knowledge and open to community input as deemed necessary. I will be conservative in voting at first, because I think spending zcash at such a low price is mismanagement of resources.
My motivation for candidacy goes beyond personal financial gain attributed to Zcash. I want to be a guiding hand and decision maker in helping to build the ecosystem needed for privacy-protected currency mass adoption.
I welcome any and all feedback, replies, or questions you may have on this post regarding my candidacy for the MGRC and thank you for your consideration.
Zcash is privacy, privacy is freedom, freedom is power. Vote @_tm3k.
EDIT1: Please see my additional post to this thread, comment number 9. @_tm3k's announcement for the MGRC election - #9 by tm3k