Zcash Community Grants Meeting Minutes 11/28/22

Community Grants Community Grants Updates
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Below please find the latest @ZcashGrants meeting minutes and Public Dashboard link.

Attendance:

  • Aditya

  • Brian

  • Burns

  • Jason

  • Michael

  • Jack Gavigan (ZF resource)

  • Alex Bornstein (ZF resource)

  • Daniel Wolande (ZF resource)

  • Deidra M acting as notetaker

Key Takeaways:

  • Open Grant Proposals
  • Brainstorm Session Follow Ups
    • Podcast RFP: indexstudios
      • ZCG agrees that it is too early to vote and will keep this up for community feedback.
    • 5th ZK Workshop Follow Up
      • Aditya will organize a ZCG call with Qedit this week.
    • Ecosystem Security Lead: Next meeting?
      • The next meeting will be held next Friday before the brainstorming session.
    • Google Workspace / other options
      • Dan will update with plans at this Friday’s meeting.
    • CryptoMondays
      • Dan to reach out to new contacts this week.
    • Upcoming Conferences
      • POW Conference
        • Cody to send an email to introduce Jack and Bob Summerwell.
      • Consensus 2023
        • The conference will take place in April 2023 in Austin, Texas. ZCG will discuss the possibility of sponsorship once they find out what the cost would be.

Notes:

Open Grant Proposals

  • Meetups by Spicy Punks
    • Jason stated that Spicy Punks is a cafe in India, and the applicant is asking for $5,000 to host 5 meetups focused on Zcash with hopes of attracting 50-60 attendees. Jason added that ZCG had some questions in regard to payouts: will it be upfront or not? He proposed the question of whether ZCG should approve now and work out the details afterward in the response or ask questions on the forum first for clarification.
    • Cody answered that he would approve and work out the details later.
    • Aditya added that he would like to learn more about the grant applicant and deliverables for the planned Zcash meetup.
    • Michael stated that he looked into their Youtube page and that it was well put together. He added that it is a small ask and felt ZCG should fund something but also agreed that the committee should do their due diligence.
    • Brian added that he also agrees it would be good to have more diligence; however, the committee can do this via the forum. Jason agreed.
    • Brian will respond to the applicant with the follow-up questions he compiles.
  • The Zcash Podcast on the Digital Cash Network
    • Jason recapped the grant and stated it was from TheDesertLynx, who responded to the podcast RFP and completed a pilot episode where he interviewed Nathan Wilcox. The candidate submitted a proposal for 12 podcasts at $500 per episode. Each podcast will be 60-90 minutes highlighting news and updates featuring key people in Zcash.
    • Jason added at the last meeting, ZCG unanimously approved this but did not officially vote in order to give the community more time to chime in.
    • No objections were given. The grant was unanimously approved.
  • Tookey
    • Tookey is an asset management protocol that intends to transform the enterprise private key management paradigm across Web3. The applicant is asking for $30,000.
    • Jason added that ZCG talked internally about this company. The consensus was that this is not a well-known company, and at this point, ZCG is not interested in funding.
    • Brian added that the committee didn’t fully understand who the company’s current client base was. There are other other companies that can meet Zcash’s needs. Brian added that he was not sure how well this would be used throughout the Zcash ecosystem.
    • Aditya noted that Tookey currently only supports Ethereum token management and the web links to the Mobile App repository were broken https://github.com/tookey-io/wallet
    • Aditya brought up other established crypto asset management platforms with transparent ZEC support, utilized by institutions that leverage multi-sig wallets and that FROST spec completion could open up opportunities for funding shielded multi-sig implementations.
    • Grant is unanimously rejected.
  • Ziggurat 3.0
    • Jason stated that in previous grants, the Equilibrium team conducted single-node network testing, which expanded into the network-wide analysis. In this grant, they want to expand their crawler to gather more metrics and deeper insight into the state of the network. The applicant will also expand the GUI to offer visualizations of the network topology and performance. They are asking for $446,200.
    • Jason added that this grant was discussed at previous brainstorm meetings. ZCG, as well as ZF and ECC, value the relationship with them. Jason expressed that the majority of the committee’s concern was that $446,000 was 10% of the budget and so the committee wants to do more due diligence to understand the need behind the ask. ZCG would like to hear from ZF and/or ECC engineers privately or on the next arborist call.
    • Aditya shared that building tools for Zcash network diagnostics and strengthening is much needed and the proposal details & milestones are well documented and priced aptly. He added it would be nice to have someone from their team to join the Arborist call and share the plans with the Zcash core developers for feedback.
    • Jason asked if Jack would be comfortable asking some questions on the next arborist call. Jack stated he would reach out to Nathan to ask for feedback from the ECC engineer team.
  • Zcash Zodler Campaign
    • Jason stated that this grant is a new music video by Hanu Dixit, focused on the Zodler, which Hanu says represents the spirit of Zcash’s privacy, freedom, and community. He is asking for $44,850 to create a catchy song, video and a 2 week marketing campaign.
    • When discussed internally: although Hanu is positive and always thoughtful in his forum posts and participates in ZCAP, the majority of the committee felt the ask was too high and leaned towards rejecting it because it is not a high priority given the price of ZEC and current budget. There are other projects ZCG would like to prioritize funding.
    • Jason added it would be great to collaborate with him in the future and that he would make a great ambassador for India if he’s interested.
    • Brian added that overall, this is not the right time to fund a marketing campaign. Michael agreed that is not the right timing despite the first song being great. Aditya also agreed it is a timing issue as the Zcash network is still experiencing a Denial of Service and lacks ecosystem-wide UA and Orchard adoption.
    • Grant is unanimously rejected.
    • Jason asked Dan to draft a standard response with the addition of this not being the right time with the current price of ZEC and some of the infrastructure problems ZF is having as the justification. Dan agreed and added he would leave out the notion of Hanu becoming an ambassador as the Global Ambassador Program is currently capped.
  • Assuranc3
    • Jason stated that the team is trying to prevent future failures of the level that occurred with Celsius and FTX. Assuranc3 will serve as an unaffiliated verification group that investigates any project that either has custodial rights to customer funds or who have an investment in any way from community members. They will analyze all aspects of such projects to ensure the reliability and trustworthiness thereof. The team seeks to prevent any and all avoidable failures, hacks, and malpractice, in order to improve the space as a whole. They are asking for $25,000.
    • Jason added that ZCG spoke about this grant in their brainstorming session and felt this grant should be rejected as it has no relevance to Zcash.
    • Cody added he was okay with rejecting this proposal as this is an industry-wide problem, not just Zcash.
    • This grant was unanimously rejected.
  • CodeUp Blockchain Awards
    • Jason stated that this is a proposal from Ogasky from Nigeria. He’s previously submitted two grant proposals that ZCG rejected: the first was to sponsor a meetup for Zcon3, and the second was for Zcash integration into Bloodfuse. The committee rejected both proposals primarily because in both instances the ask was too high. ZCG had a call with him after rejecting the second proposal to give him a better sense of what ZCG looks for in grant applications. One of the things they mentioned to him was for sponsoring an event, ZCG generally wants to pledge around $2,500.
    • Jason added that Ogasky’s new grant is to sponsor an event called CodeUp Blockchain Conversation and Awards for $2,500. The event will feature 3-5 blockchain local experts and he anticipates 70 attendees. ZCG would be featured as a contributing organization and will be featured in handbills, flyers, and brochures. Jason added that the grant was submitted last night, so it’s too early to vote on it, but he asked for initial impressions.
    • Aditya stated that he was not sure of the participants and experts invited to the conference and its location. Michael added that he liked that the applicant listened to ZCG’s feedback and that he came back with a more reasonable price; however, he stated that this grant is light on details, and he is not sure of what ZCG would be funding.
    • Brian added that he would want to hear more about the specifics, but this is not the right time, and he needs clarification on the benefit to Zcash. He stated that he needed more time to think about this.
    • Jason added that it would be good to run this by Chidi, the ambassador for Nigeria, and then make a decision. Everyone agreed.
    • This proposal was recently submitted so it is too early to vote.
    • Jason will reach out to Chidi to get his thoughts on it.

Brainstorm Session Follow Ups

  • Podcast RFP: indexstudios
    • Jason stated that this proposal is a podcast as a service. Basically, they’ll help someone who wants to host a podcast set up a professional product. There’s a $15,000 startup cost, and then it’s $7,500 per month (one episode per month) - $105,000 per year for 12 episodes.
    • Jason stated that the consensus was that the need is not there yet, but perhaps this would be needed at some point in the future.
    • ZCG agreed that it is too early to vote on and will keep this up for community feedback.
    • Cody and Aditya stated that they are noticing a lot of rejections on the basis of “not a current need,” and Cody asked if ZCG should close the RFP. Jason answered that it would be nice for Zcash to have more podcasts and other media. It would be great to receive more, similarly priced proposals to help get the word out about Zcash. Most cryptocurrencies have multiple podcasts. ZCG can always reject proposals they think are not a good fit or are too high cost, but we should encourage more content creation.
    • Aditya proposed that ZCG consider pausing the Podcast RFP until a later date and evaluate the work from thedesertlynx’s funded podcast . Alex stated that it is possible to hide them on the system and grants platform so no one can see it and then, when ready, can repost it.
    • ZCG decided to talk more about the RFP in the brainstorming session and will follow up at the next meeting.
  • 5th ZK Workshop Follow Up
    • Aditya stated Qedit organized the workshop with top ZKP cryptographers in attendance. Zcash Foundation was one of the sponsors of the workshop. One presenter, VMware utilized sigma protocol to demonstrate pathways for building privacy preserving assets.
    • Aditya met the Qedit team and they will be sharing their development updates and future plans with the ZCG committee. Aditya shared that the Qedit team has the capabilities to build proof of concept in the ZKP space, they’ve held hackathons to build digital assets and identity, and are interested in examining the concepts for using ZKProofs in CBDCs implementations.
    • The ZCG will have a call with them this week.
  • Ecosystem Security Lead: Next meeting?
    • Jason asked Dan for a follow-up about the next call with Taylor. Dan said he reached out to him and was given his availability for the next week. Dan suggested next week Friday at 3:30 pm. ZCG agreed, and moving forward, these calls with Taylor will take place a half hour before the brainstorming session.
  • Google Workspace / other options
    • Dan will update with actionable advice and plans during Friday’s meeting.
  • CryptoMondays
    • Jason reminded everyone that although ZCG approved this grant, there was a caveat that they would update their proposal to reflect their first milestone being a proof of concept, but they have yet to receive a reply from them.
    • Dan added that he also has yet to hear back even after reaching out to them via the forum and Submittable and KYC has not been submitted yet.
    • Jason stated that he will forward Dan the email addresses for some additional contacts. Dan stated that he would send a friendly reminder to the grantees.
  • Upcoming Conferences
    • Proof Of Work Conference
      • Cody stated that Bob Summerwell is the director at the Ethereum Classic Cooperative and has been working closely with other approval work chains. Cody added that there is a conference coming up, and they were wondering if Zcash would be interested in it or what the procedure would be for Zcash or ECC to give sponsorship or an official stance on this conference. Cody asked for feedback to help figure out what the best next steps would be.
      • Cody will send an introductory email to both Jack and Bob soon and will take it from there.
    • Consensus 2023
      • Jason stated that it would be worth it to look into getting a booth with ZF and ECC at this conference; however, since it’s scheduled for 2023, it makes sense to let the next committee decide.
      • Cody stated that this conference will take place on April 26, 2023, in Austin, Texas, and is a big deal. He wanted to raise everyone’s awareness of it and added that this conference could be money well spent.
      • Aditya suggested ZCG find out the cost for sponsorships and the different tiers, booth setup, etc. and plan accordingly to demonstrate existing Zcash funded projects at the booth in addition to promoting the grants program.
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