ZCAP Poll Opened: Dev Fund Poll (2025)

Governance
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Hello Zcash community,

A new ZCAP (Zcash Community Advisory Panel) poll opened today, and we want to ensure all ZCAP members are informed and prepared to participate.

This poll is part of our ongoing efforts to provide the Zcash community with a meaningful voice in decisions about the future of Zcash. As always, the results of ZCAP polls are non-binding but serve as an important signal to ecosystem participants, funders, and developers.

In November 2025, the current Dev Fund established under ZIP 1015 will expire, and 100% of block rewards will be allocated to miners. This ZCAP poll (complimented by ZAC polling and coin holders) will determine if there is consensus for a replacement funding mechanism or if the Zcash community prefers that all rewards go to miners.

What’s in this Poll?

This ZCAP poll includes the following questions:

  • The first asks which Dev Fund proposal you support, or whether you believe the Dev Fund should end and all block rewards should go to miners.
  • The second asks whether you support prioritizing a new Dev Fund and the implementation of a new funding model, even if doing so delays NU7.

How to Participate

Your voting instructions have been delivered in an email from the Helios Voting Bot (no-reply@mail.heliosvoting.org). Emails from Helios have sometimes been flagged as spam. If you can’t find it, please check your spam folder (and hit the “Not Spam” button to help reduce the likelihood of future messages getting flagged as spam).

Apologies! Please note that the email we sent out contains formatting issues. Scroll down the body of the email message to find your voter ID and password. This is our first time running a Helios poll since Dodger’s departure and Elise is still getting the hang of things. However, the poll is functioning as-expected.

Key Dates

  • April 17: Poll opens
  • May 1: Poll closes
  • By May 5: Results will be shared with the community

Why ZCAP Matters

The ZCAP process provides a transparent, community-driven mechanism for surfacing preferences and guidance from long-term Zcash supporters. While these votes are advisory, they provide critical insight for decision-makers across the Zcash ecosystem.

Your voice helps shape the future of Zcash — thank you for being part of this process.

If you have any questions regarding administration of the Helios poll, please contact elise@zfnd.org.

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Thank you for your efforts to measure the beliefs of Zcash users.

Is there a formal process for proposing a question for a ZCAP poll?

How do polls get determined, and how is it decided what the selection options are?

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There isn’t a formal process (to my knowledge) for proposing a question for ZCAP but that’s something we can discuss and formalize in the near future.

For this poll ZF worked with Shielded Labs and ECC to ensure the questions were clear and uniform so that the comparison between the poll outcomes can determine if there is consensus between the three voting bodies (ZCAP, ZAC, coin holders).

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Thank you for the quick reply and transparency!

Another quick question -

  1. Do you support prioritizing the extension of the Dev Fund and the implementation of a new funding model, even if it requires postponing NU7

Are we sure the ~200 ZCAP members understand what’s actually included in today’s “NU7”?

It would help to remind everyone what exact features are planned for this upgrade. Specific features are easier to think about than an acronym, especially since “NU7” has meant different things over time.

Up for posting a reminder in this thread - what’s “NU7” defined as today, and what’s the current deadline that the question inquires about postponing?

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Hi! Unfortunately I never received an email from no-reply@mail.heliosvoting.org

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Hi! I can help with this. Please reply to the DM I just sent over.

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Apologies! I am NOT a member of ZCAP! I was too eager to vote! :slight_smile:

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Love your enthusiasm and hope you will consider volunteering for ZCAP and voting in future polls.

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The ZIPs under consideration for inclusion in NU7 can be found here: https://zips.z.cash/. There isn’t a “deadline” to share, the poll question is asking for prioritization since an exact date can’t be provided due to too many unknown factors.

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Hello,

The Helios Voting email, nor this forum post provides education to the voters about what they are voting on. I kindly request high quality information be provided to ZCAP voters directly to respect their time and have a higher voter turn out.

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Someone explain to me why ZCAP should even participate to the governance if they are not keeping themselves informed? If they need a third party to inform them and introduce bias in the process, their participation does not make any sense.

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Hello yawnbox,
The first sentence in the forum post above provides a link to detailed information about this ZCAP poll.

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Thank you. In the future, I kindly recommend including information links in the email, or at least naming the link to “poll information”, not something that sounds like it takes me to the Helios Voting Booth.

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Thank you for this suggestion. It was my intention to send out the poll with this link included in the body of the email message; it was an error on my part as a new Helios admin that caused this link to be omitted.

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What impact will the delay in NU7 have on Zcash?

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I was curious about that too and this answer helped me a lot:

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This is a friendly reminder to cast your vote in the current ZCAP poll, if you haven’t already done so. The poll closes May 1st, 8:00 PM (EST) / May 2nd, midnight (UTC).

How to Access Voting

Please check your email inbox for a message sent on April 17th, with the subject line Dev Fund Poll (2025). This message contains:

  • Personal login/password credentials
  • Direct link to the voting portal

Can’t Find the Email?

  • Check your spam/junk folder
  • Search your inbox for email dated April 17th
  • Search your inbox for email with subject line Dev Fund Poll (2025)

Having Technical Issues?

If you’re unable to locate your login information or experience any difficulties with the voting process, please DM Elise for assistance.

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This poll closes tomorrow! :alarm_clock:

There’s still time to vote!

If you haven’t voted yet, please check your inbox for a reminder message sent out a few moments ago that contains your login and password for this poll. In case it didn’t land in your inbox, here are a few tips for locating the message:

  • Check your spam/junk folder
  • Search your inbox for email dated April 30th
  • Search your inbox for email with subject line ZCAP Dev Fund Poll (2025)

Having Technical Issues?

If you’re unable to locate your login information or experience any difficulties with the voting process, please DM Elise for assistance.

5 Likes