Zcash Community Grants Meeting Minutes 11/13/23

Community Grants Community Grants Updates
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Below, please find the latest ZCG meeting minutes and Public Dashboard link

Attendance:

  • Amber
  • Brian
  • Jason
  • Michael
  • Alex (ZF resource)
  • Dan (ZF resource)
  • Deidra M (notetaker)

Key Takeaways:

Open Grant Proposals

  • WalletD / Slavi Wallet - Jason gave background for this proposal. WalletD is an open-source wallet SDK that will include ready-to-use modules for a variety of different blockchains and ecosystems. The team is asking for $50,000 to integrate Zcash. WalletD is owned by Slaz Holdings, Ltd., Ricardo Spagni’s (aka fluffypony’s) company.
    • ZCG rejected this proposal as the committee funded several wallet projects this year.
  • Nym: Network Privacy For Zcash - This proposal has been submitted on the grants platform but still needs to be posted to the forum. Jason contacted one of the Nym contacts to remind them to post it, and that person said they would do it ASAP. Jason outlined this grant. Nym’s proposal is to integrate the Nym mixnet into Zcash to provide network-level privacy to Zcash users. Their goal is to enhance the privacy and security of Zcash transactions by protecting users against network-level attacks and improving their overall privacy. They’re asking for $670,000, including $320,000 that gets passed through to Zingo! and Nighthawk to integrate Nym into their mobile wallets.
    • Because this grant has yet to be formally posted to the forum, ZCG decided to remove it from meeting discussions.
  • Taking Zcash to School - Jason gave background for this grant. This proposal is from Onose Oghenevwogaga of WittyHub. He has applied for a number of grants in the past, 3 ZCG grants and 1 Minor grant. All have yet to be approved or funded. With this grant, he proposes raising an army of 100 Zcash developers who will build and contribute to Zcash protocol projects. He’s asking for $576,000.
    • ZCG discussed this proposal and rejected it because it’s priced too high and out of scope for projects they’re interested in funding. Jason added that there has been no demonstration of his or his team’s ability to specialize in education and training that the developers would need.
  • Zcash Metrics & Analytics Dashboard - Jason summarized this grant. This grant is from Aristarchus. This grant was originally a minor grant that was two votes away from being funded. He wants to create a real-time data and analytics website that gives all sorts of information on Zcash, including data on the shielded pool. He says it’ll be more robust than what Coinmetrics and Messari offer and will be free to access. He’s asking for $30,000, based on an hourly rate of $150.
    • Jason provided a summary of the ZCG’s meeting last week Friday on this grant. Overall, the committee was supportive of this proposal, except some felt the asking price was too high, specifically the hourly rate.
    • The committee went around to give their feedback on this proposal. Michael said it was disappointing that Zcash would start from square one, but he generally thought this proposal was acceptable. He also said that he agreed that the ask was too high. Jason mentioned that Dan suggested that Aristarchus collaborate with Alfredo on his Zebra metrics/dashboard efforts to reduce costs. Brian added that there were existing metrics on the Zebra side, so he would want to know how Aristarchus’ graphics/metrics would differ or complement it. Dan said he would reach out to Alfredo to ask if he would be willing to post to the thread and to ask him about the status of his Zebra dashboard work.
    • Jason will relay the committees’ sentiments to Aristarchus and see if he’s open to lowering the price, and then Dan can reach out to Alfredo.
    • ZCG informed ZF via Signal following the ZCG meeting that the grantee did not want to lower their rate, so they are withdrawing their grant.
  • Shielded Support for Zcash in Ledger - Jason provided background for this proposal. This proposal is from Zondax. They are asking for $101,800 for the official public release of Zcash Ledger app with Sapling support and 12 months of maintenance. This proposal represents Phase 1 of the project and is precisely how Zondax outlined it to ZCG when they spoke to them a few weeks ago. The grant has been open for 6 days, so it’s technically too early to vote on it. Jason suggested that the committee cast a mobile vote via Signal later in the week, and they agreed. The committee provided their comments for the record.
    • Michael said he had some skepticism with Zondax and did not have a lot of confidence in Ledger’s commitment to Zcash, so overall, he said it was hard to say no to this grant but also scared to say yes. Brian said he was also hesitant but supported this grant in order to move forward. Amber said she feels ZCG is backed into a corner but acknowledges there is no alternative either. She also said she is happy that this grant is broken up into phases, so she voted to approve. Jason agreed with Amber and looks forward to seeing progress.
    • Jason will initiate a mobile vote with the committee this week to get a final decision on this grant.
    • ZCG conducted a mobile vote following the ZCG meeting and informed ZF that they unanimously approved this grant.
  • Coinstore Collaboration - Jason summarized this grant proposal. Coinstore is proposing a collaboration with Zcash that would focus on Southeast Asia. They’re asking for a $100,000 grant.
    • ZCG decided to reject this proposal as it’s out of scope.

Brainstorm Session Follow-Ups

  • Global Ambassador Program
    • ZCG decided to extend Chidi’s contract until December 31, 2023. This will allow the new committee members to decide whether to renew the program in general and have all ambassador contracts on the same timeline.
  • Ecosystem Security Lead
    • The committee completed the exit interview with Taylor, and he expressed his enjoyment in doing this for the past year. ZCG agreed that it worked out as well.
    • As for the RFP process, there are no updates with Least Authority and Thesis Defense to state. ZCG had a call with Hackin.io, and it went well, but the ask was high. They will submit a proposal soon. Responses from additional firms are pending.
  • Compensation
    • In the last ZCG meeting, Jack informed the committee that ZF was looking at the budget and was likely to reduce or eliminate the current ZCG stipend and that details would be shared with the community when nominations open for the upcoming ZCG election.
    • Jason asked for any new information. Alex said Jack would post to the forum this week about the election and to expect Jack to address compensation with that announcement.
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