Good to see you here @dismad.
Answer is simple: I wasn’t involved in Zcash at the time.
We should avoid falling for what is a textbook example of sunken cost fallacy. This was two years ago (the market changed since then and proved through Alea and Penumbra there is basically no demand for this) when Zcash had little traction.
Zcash is now having a ton of traction in the store of value / encrypted Bitcoin / sovereign money niche. That’s what we need to capitalize on. That’s our product-market fit. Everything else is effectively a distraction and hurts our ability to capitalize on this market fit.
With all due respect for QED-IT, and having met Jonathan, their CEO, in person and having had the chance to have a great exchange with him (he is awesome), this is again an example of sunken cost fallacy.
What matters is the present, and whether this is a good decision now, not how much work went into it in the past.
No need to turn conspiratorial, the reason is simply that a poll about ZSAs will go live next week.