Zcash Community Grants Meeting Minutes 10/27/25

Community Grants Community Grants Updates
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Grant Dashboard**

Zcash Community Grants Committee Google Meet Meeting: October 27, 2025**

[Minutes taken by FPF]

Attendance:

  • Artkor

  • GGuy

  • Jason

  • Zerodartz

  • Decentralistdan

  • Alex (FPF resource, notetaker)

Key Takeaways:

Open Grant Proposals

  • Zcash React Native

    • This proposal funds the development of zcash-rn, a full-featured, open-source React Native SDK designed to make building shielded, privacy-first mobile apps on Zcash fast, intuitive, and developer-friendly. Built using a modern JSI-Native architecture that bypasses React Native’s legacy bridge, zcash-rn will directly integrate Rust’s core Zcash libraries for high performance and seamless functionality. The SDK will include four modular packages—@zcash-rn/core, @zcash-rn/hooks, @zcash-rn/ui-kit, and @zcash-rn/utils—providing developers with everything from low-level Zcash logic to ready-to-use React hooks and UI components. By addressing the critical gap in mobile development tools, this project will empower the global React Native community to easily build secure, shielded-first Zcash applications, expanding ZEC’s real-world usability and adoption. Applicant is requesting $79,200.

      • Artkor: Taking into account the current lack of interest in this library by developers I’m rejecting this proposal.

      • Zerodartz: Since there are no developers who need it right now, this can wait for a better time , I reject.

      • Gguy: We usually find grants like this achieve better results when we have a user ready to adopt. I vote we reject this with the caveat that if someone needs this we can revisit.

      • DecentralistDan: I agree. 2nd the caveat that if someone needs this we can revisit

      • Jason: I agree as well.

      • Rejected.

  • Coin Voting: Maintenance & Improvements

    • This proposal funds one year of maintenance and user experience improvements for the Zcash Coin Voting System, ensuring it remains reliable, accessible, and scalable as coin-weighted voting becomes more central to Zcash governance. Building on lessons from prior elections, the project will overhaul the user-facing applications to simplify voting for both coin holders and organizers while preserving the core protocol logic. Key enhancements include streamlined multi-question polling, easier deployment of multiple voting authorities, removal of seed setup friction, and fixes for bugs affecting voter access. In addition, a new Rust crate will be developed to enable third-party developers to build their own compatible voting clients, strengthening the ecosystem’s transparency and participation tools. Applicant is requesting $314,000.

      • Jason: I see this as being a high priority. There’s a lot of friction with the current coin voting mechanism and what we want to do is maximize the amount of coins that vote and number of participants. So, any improvements that Hanh can make to the user experience, I think would be very beneficial, especially now that we’ll be using this on a quarterly basis and also for governance related polling as well.

      • Gguy: It makes sense to move fast and responsibly and getting this to users hands is a good thing.

      • Jason: Another thing that I’ll mention is there’s not a lot of detail in some of the later milestones. So what Hanh agreed to do is on a quarterly basis he would let ZCG know what he plans to work on and then the billing would be in a similar fashion to like ChainSafe and QEDIT where the monthly amount represents the max based on the amount of work that he does.

      • Approved asnyc.

  • Cordial Systems

    • Cordial Systems, a leading provider of institutional wallet infrastructure used by major firms such as Jump Trading Group, Figure Markets, and SwissBorg, seeks a grant to integrate support for Zcash unshielded transactions into its flagship product, Cordial Treasury. This enhancement will immediately enable Backpack Exchange, which has specifically requested Zcash support—to securely buy, hold, and manage ZEC within their existing custody environments. The project addresses a critical gap in institutional access to emerging blockchain ecosystems, where lack of compatible wallet infrastructure limits participation. With funding from ZCG, Cordial will allocate dedicated engineering resources to build and release the necessary driver and integration software—leveraging MPC-based security and open-source components through its public crosschain library—to expand institutional adoption and accessibility of Zcash. Applicant is requesting $55,000.

      • Artkor: This proposal concerns integration of transparent addresses which are not a complex part of Zcash. Moreover, some of this functionality is already implemented. So funding it is no longer relevant. Therefore, I’m rejecting this proposal.

      • Gguy: I agree funding this isn’t necessary.

      • Decentralistdan: Agreed, reject, I agree with the above points. We should note what Emersonian said: if they want to implement unshielded they can use Bitcoin RPCs and then potentially come back to the table for shielded support.

      • Jason: Agreed and reject.

      • Rejected.

  • ZD Models

    • ZD Modes will design, produce, and globally distribute high-quality, 3D-printed Zcash collectibles and NFC-enabled items that bring Zcash’s digital identity into the physical world. Moving beyond traditional merchandise like t-shirts and stickers, these interactive trinkets—such as coins, keychains, and fidget collectibles—will engage users through embedded QR codes or NFC tags linking to verified Zcash educational resources and wallet downloads. By transforming Zcash’s mission of privacy into tangible, shareable objects, the project will enhance in-person engagement and brand visibility at conferences, meetups, and ambassador events. Through collaboration with Global Ambassadors, ZD Modes will also tailor designs to reflect regional cultures and event themes, fostering meaningful connections and expanding Zcash’s global outreach. Applicant is requesting $25,700.

      • Jason: We see it as out of scope for what we’re interested in funding. Plus this person could find a way to bootstrap this project and create revenue to sustain the business.

      • Artkor: I generally like the creativity behind this proposal, it appears to be more of a commercial initiative and doesn’t lie with the goals of the grant program. I’m sorry, but I’m rejecting it.

      • Zerodartz: I would like to see if they could do a test run, like a small batch, to see if there is interest from the community. In the current form I don’t see enough support or activity from our community..I’m rejecting this.

      • Rejected.

  • ZecDev Launchpad

    • ZecDev Launchpad is a Linux-first developer toolkit and CI harness that simplifies and standardizes building on Zebra, the modern Zcash node replacing zcashd. With a single command, it spins up a complete local regtest network—including Zebra, a faucet, Unified Address fixtures, and either lightwalletd or Zaino—and provides a reusable GitHub Action that runs end-to-end shielded transaction tests on every pull request. By closing the critical gap left by zcashd’s deprecation, ZecDev Launchpad gives wallet, SDK, and service developers a fast, repeatable path for local development and continuous integration, enabling them to catch regressions early and maintain compatibility across the Zcash ecosystem. Applicant is requesting $25,000.

      • Jason: Approval is conditional on changing name.

      • Gguy: I’ve spoken to Pacu who has agreed to help manage this project and review the milestones and deliverables as they are achieved. I would like to approve this but with the caveat that the deliverables and milestones get amended and updated according to Pacu’s feedback.

      • Approved.

  • bytebell.ai

    • Bytebell is a developer copilot designed to stop technical knowledge from scattering across codebases, docs, and chats. It ingests a team’s code, documentation, and conversations to build a version-aware knowledge graph that links every answer directly to the exact file, line, and commit where the truth lives. If an answer can’t be proven, Bytebell stays silent—ensuring trust and accuracy. By embedding into developers’ existing tools like IDEs, Slack, and the CLI, it creates a single, verifiable source of truth that grows with use, cutting search time, preventing repeated mistakes, and turning fragmented information into a shared, auditable memory for the entire engineering organization. Applicant is requesting $30,500.

      • Gguy: Unfortunately from what I see this doesn’t produce better outcomes than what some of the generic AI tools including Google AI search results can achieve. So without any specific users wanting to adopt this, this is a reject from me.

      • Artkor: Given that much of Zcash infrastructure documentation is still being developed and some existing materials are outdated, the usefulness of such a tool is very limited. A good rule for any developer is to rely on official documentation rather than drawing from outdated sources. Therefore I am rejecting this proposal.

      • Zerodartz: Not a bad idea, but AI models develop really fast which could make it less useful in already near future when many tools can bring same results without much special need for an app. Rejecting this..

      • Jason: I reject as well for similar reasons.

      • Decentralistdan: reject. Agreed on lack of usefulness compared to general AIs

      • Rejected.

  • Zcash Ukraine Regional Initiative

    • Zcash Ukraine is a six-month initiative dedicated to expanding the Ukrainian-speaking Zcash community through consistent education, practical onboarding, and grassroots engagement. Building on an established foundation, the project will produce over 600 localized educational posts (~100 per month), maintain active social media and chat communities, and host two in-person meetups focused on hands-on wallet onboarding. In a country facing war, economic instability, and growing financial surveillance, this initiative equips Ukrainians—freelancers, activists, and citizens alike—with the knowledge and tools for private, censorship-resistant payments. By expanding its ambassador network, Zcash Ukraine aims to create a sustainable, community-driven model that strengthens Zcash’s visibility, trust, and adoption across the region. Applicant is requesting $6,000.

      • Jason: This group has received funding from ZecHub in the past but their most recent proposal was rejected so they came to ZCG. ZCG’s policy on these types of grants is that if a regional community is established and has proven itself a value add and has started off receiving Zehub funding or just doing like its own self-funded grassroots organization successfully, then we will approve it. We reviewed the Ukraine community’s contributions and while we appreciate their efforts, we think that there’s more that they need to do to prove themselves. So, at this point in time, I believe we’re all aligned in rejecting this and um encouraging them to continue either self-funded or via Zehub. Is that accurate?

      • Zerodartz: I have seen some good results from this community. They are active and growing but they don’t have yet enough traction on socials compared to some others. It might be about the effort put into original content is a bit less than the stronger communities. I suggest them to keep growing and try a shorter duration ZecHub grant again so the DAO could manage it better.

      • Rejected.

  • The Social Mask

    • The Social Mask is a privacy-first journalism platform designed to protect investigative reporters and whistleblowers operating under censorship and threat. Led by Emilio Navarro MejĂ­a, an experienced founder and full-stack developer specializing in privacy-preserving and decentralized technologies, and Oswaldo Navarro, a veteran accountant overseeing finance and legal compliance, the project builds a secure infrastructure for publishing sensitive reports without revealing identities. Using decentralized architecture, zero-knowledge proofs, and Zcash shielded transactions, The Social Mask enables journalists to safely publish exposĂ©s, receive direct reader support, and verify credentials without compromising anonymity. In a world where over a thousand journalists have been murdered or silenced for revealing the truth, this platform offers a vital, censorship-resistant channel for free and secure investigative reporting. Applicant is requesting $50,000.

      • Artkor: While the concept of supporting independent journalism with Zcash is valuable, I believe that building a new platform is far less effective than when integrating Zcash into existing well established platforms serving this purpose. I am rejecting this proposal.

      • Gguy: Unfortunately productizing new platforms like this is incredibly hard, while I appreciate the efforts I don’t think we’re ready to fund things like this just yet.

      • DecentralistDan: I reject as well. I’m a fan of the concept and aligning Zcash with independent journalism and the value there, but yes, bootstrapping a whole entire platform doesn’t make sense at the moment. I think as we said on Friday, interested in potentially pursuing already established journalists and maybe doubling down on the relationships of the ones that currently do exist and are aware of Zcash and/or already accept Zcash.

      • Zerodartz: I also like the idea but yeah, I’ve seen too many new social platforms trying to bootstrap and they’re all failing because it’s super hard to get enough users and that’s a super niche platform. I reject.

      • Jason: Agreed, it’s a cool idea it just doesn’t seem like it would work as intended. I reject as well.

      • Rejected.

  • Zcash Extension to Ethereum

    • This proposal requests $250,000 USD from the Zcash Community Grants to build a confidential, non-custodial bridge allowing ZEC holders to use Ethereum DeFi while preserving privacy. It introduces a Confidential ERC-20 Token (wZEC) powered by Zero-Knowledge Proofs through a custom Circom circuit, enabling shielded balances and private transfers on Ethereum. ZEC is locked on-chain while wZEC is minted under a ZK-SNARK-verified, trustless system. The ConfidentialERC20Token circuit supports standard ERC-20 functions within a 20-level Merkle tree capable of privately managing over a million accounts, using Poseidon hashing to ensure confidentiality, prevent double-spending, and extend Zcash’s privacy guarantees into the Ethereum ecosystem.

      • Jason: I think where we came out was we were leaning towards rejecting this, but I was going to talk to a couple people um on the Shielded Labs team and maybe some other engineers in the ecosystem and see if there’s something we can sort of take from this that that might be an option for this individual.

      • Too early to vote.

  • Zcatch: Zcash Explorer & Services

    • Zcatch is a next-generation Zcash explorer built to enhance transparency, usability, and insight within the privacy-centric Zcash ecosystem. Unlike generic multi-chain explorers, Zcatch is purpose-built to deeply understand Zcash’s unique privacy architecture, providing intuitive visualization and analytics for both transparent and shielded transactions without compromising user privacy. In its next phase, Zcatch will evolve into a full-service platform supporting ZSA (Zcash Shielded Assets), enabling seamless asset issuance, management, and privacy-preserving analytics. By combining advanced indexing, developer APIs, and a modern user experience, Zcatch aims to become a core infrastructure layer that bridges transparency and privacy — empowering developers, researchers, and users to build and innovate confidently within Zcash’s ecosystem. Applicant is requesting $20,700.

      • Artkor: Looks interesting.

      • Zerodartz: We don’t have enough good block explorers and this one could be an improvement if they listen to user feedback and implement features users want.

      • Too early to vote.

Brainstorm Session Follow-Ups

  • Web3Privacy Summit

    • Event in Argentina in mid-November. Ryan and ZK AV Club, both him and Robmar will attend in person with ZCG covering flights and accommodation for roughly two weeks. ZCG has approved.

    • Coordination of planning for the sponsored booth including swag, who will be representing/present, etc is underway

  • Ledger

    • FPF is working with Ledger to finalize KYC (on the Ledger side) and complete discussions regarding terms and conditions.
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THANK YOU @ZCG :high_voltage: :shield: :heart:

We will announce our plans very soon.

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thanks @ZCG

We will update all the comment. This is private meeting then other teams can not join right?

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Correct. Our meetings are private, but we may be open to setting up a call or a Signal group if there’s something you’d like to discuss, or you can DM us on the forum at @ZcashGrants.