Zcash Community Grants Meeting Minutes 12/8/2025

Community Grants Community Grants Updates
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Grant Dashboard

Zcash Community Grants Committee Google Meet Meeting: December 8, 2025

[Minutes taken by FPF]

Attendance:

  • Artkor

  • GGuy

  • Jason

  • Zerodartz

  • Decentralistdan

  • Alex (FPF resource, notetaker)

Key Takeaways:

Open Grant Proposals

  • Brave Global Privacy Campaign

    • Brave proposes a three-month global Zcash marketing campaign (Dec 2025–Feb 2026) leveraging its 100M+ privacy-focused user base to drive education, awareness, and wallet activations. The $750,000 campaign will feature 15 premium New Tab Takeover (NTT) days—each delivering ~24 million daily impressions—and localized notification ads generating ~62.5 million impressions with a 2–4% CTR target. Brave will match every NTT day focused on Brave Wallet Integration with an additional NTT day at no cost, doubling exposure for that pillar. The campaign will highlight four key areas: Zcash Core, NEAR Intents, Zashi Wallet, and Brave Wallet Integration. With turnkey management, weekly performance dashboards, and a final impact report, this initiative will significantly boost global visibility, understanding, and user engagement with Zcash’s privacy technology and ecosystem. Applicant is requesting $750,000.

      • Artkor: The proposed budget is substantial and, in the absence of a clearly defined marketing strategy, carries a risk of becoming an expensive experiment. Before committing to a campaign of this scale, there is a clear need for structured pilot testing with small focus groups and a professional marketing plan clearly defining the target message, audience, and expected impact.

Personally, I would like to see this move beyond simple brands or logos promotion and toward clear calls to action, grounded in the practical advantages of Zcash as a payment method. And it seems to me that the community has also signalled that we are not currently ready for this grant, but the door is open.

  • Zerodartz: In my view Zcash could benefit a bit from some marketing at current stage but mostly if it’s targeted towards current crypto users. The onboarding experience is fine but not good enough + the amount of merchants who accept Zcash is rather small means we are at a stage where it doesn’t make sense to start spending these amounts on broad marketing to everyone. Like Artkor said, we should build a strategy and test it with small amounts before going full speed. We need data on what sort of copy and creative could potentially work for using funds effectively. I do know Brave is a good platform to reach a lot of people so there is future potential here.

  • Declined

  • Bootstrapped & Deterministic Builds a la StageX

    • We propose to strengthen the Zcash ecosystem’s core software security by establishing fully bootstrapped, deterministic, and reproducible build environments using StageX—our security-first, open-source Linux distribution designed to eliminate entire classes of supply-chain attacks. Distrust.co brings deep expertise in verifiable security, with a track record that includes high-impact disclosures (e.g., the 2023 Milk Sad vulnerability) and work with leading organizations such as BitGo, Optimism Labs, and Unit410. While Bitcoin and Monero rely on Guix, StageX provides a stricter, more hermetic, multi-party-signed foundation that avoids non-deterministic components and reduces attack surface. By integrating StageX into Zcash’s build pipeline, we address systemic risks such as those demonstrated in the SolarWinds, XZ Utils, Codecov, and XcodeGhost compromises—attacks enabled by tampered build environments or pre-generated artifacts. Verified reproducible builds create a cryptographic audit trail from source to binary, providing defenses endorsed by the Linux Foundation and enabling Zcash to set a new best-in-class standard for supply-chain security across the cryptocurrency ecosystem. Applicant is requesting $48,000.

      • Artkor: This grant is a good example of a grant where the importance of the work is intuitively clear but confirmation required input from the technical community and I would like to thank the community for its active and constructive participation in this process. So we approved.

      • Gguy: Supply-chain attacks are a real and constant issue that deserves attention. This work provides an option that addresses a subset of the concerns and may be suitable for some users. I will continue to look at this space. I appreciate the retroactive approach of milestone 1 by doing some work upfront which has made this grant significantly easier to approve. I approve.

      • Approved

  • ZGo 2025 Retroactive

    • (Retroactive request) The ZGo point-of-sale application currently depends on the soon-to-be-deprecated zcashd node, putting its long-term viability at risk. This project modernizes ZGo by migrating its infrastructure to the newer, more robust Zebra node and integrating the Zenith wallet’s RPC server as a replacement for the embedded zcashd wallet. By updating ZGo to operate fully on Zebra and Zenith—including support for NU6.1—this work ensures the application can continue serving the Zcash community beyond 2025 while improving overall reliability and performance. Applicant is requesting $138,800.

      • Gguy: Ultimately we want dozens of payee options that support Zcash. Given the importance of payment rails I think ZCG should continue to support Pitmutt and find ways to make ZGo a more attractive option.

      • Artkor: This is one of the cases where overpaying is less critical than sending a strong signal that real world payment solutions are a top priority for ZCG. The applicant has been part of the community for a long long time and has always demonstrated commitment.

      • Jason: I have a very high opinion of Pitmutt’s work. He consistently delivers what he commits to, on time, and Zgo reflects that; it’s a solid product. There is still room for improvement on the integration side, and awareness is currently the biggest challenge, so focused marketing would be especially valuable as a llot of people don’t know that it exists. So, anything that he can do from a marketing perspective so that people are encouraged to use this product would be great. I highly recommend that he leverage Zcash Brazil, ZecHub and other community groups.

      • Zerodartz: Since there was some discussion on the Forum and ZecHub was interested in helping with the UI design then I’m now leaning more positive. I think PitMutt writes good quality backend code.. And if we can get the visual side to look better and get some UX fixes also in later, there could be more potential users.I approve this.

      • DecentralistDan: I agree with all those points. Happy to see a long-term grantee who ships. I approve.

      • Approved

  • ZEC-native Pop-Up City

    • In 2026, XFounders Accelerator, Zcash and the Starknet Foundation will run four month-long IRL bootcamps and Pop-Up City residencies in Bali and El Salvador, supporting 40 seed-stage startups that integrate Zcash into their products while hosting up to 300 builders per edition. Each Pop-Up City pilots “ZEC as cash of the city,” enabling shielded ZEC payments for daily needs and generating a replicable adoption playbook. The program reserves 80 full packages for Zcash community members, strengthens global networks through workshops and meetups, and produces a year-long docu-series plus educational content on financial privacy and Zcash tools. Together, this creates a pipeline of Zcash-integrated startups, a tested real-world usage model, and lasting public-good media for the ecosystem. Applicant is requesting $500,000.

      • Jason: Pop-up cities are cool and interesting, but it’s not something that we’re looking to fund at this point in time.

      • Zerodartz: If it was one event it would be more reasonable but because it’s like four events and the budget is huge there’s no way we can fund it now. Starting smaller and building stronger connections with the Zcash community first could work in the future.

      • Jason: It might be cool if someone put in a grant to organize an independent Zcash-focused conference.

      • Artkor: I believe an initiative like bootcamps could make sense, however, given that our community is modest in size and already maintains effective low cost forms of in-person interaction, I’m not comfortable approving such a large expense without a clear and explicit community mandate.

      • Declined

  • Nesthub for Zcash Developers

    • Nesthub—Ibadan’s leading free, in-person blockchain developer community—will run three month-long Buildcamps plus Zcash-focused meetups and mini-hackathons in January–March 2026 to train developers in blockchain fundamentals and practical privacy tech. Founded in 2024 and backed previously by ICP and Stellar, Nesthub has strong university partnerships and consistently engages ~30 developers per cohort. With ZCG support, the program will expand hands-on training, mentorship and community events that introduce Zcash tools, raise awareness of privacy-preserving development, and help emerging Nigerian builders create competitive, real-world blockchain solutions. Applicant is requesting $9,600.

      • Artkor: Zcash has its own specific characteristics and I don’t believe that developer hubs of this type represent an effective growth format for the ecosystem.

      • Zerodartz: Something like this could work but the project has small budget for the three months of events which seems unrealistic to be feasible and impactful. More proof of past event organizing from them could help in the future.

      • Declined

  • Myaza

    • Myaza will integrate full ZEC support into its mobile wallet and POS platform to make private, low-cost digital payments practical for everyday use across Africa. The project enables users to store, send, receive, and instantly convert ZEC to local currencies, while merchants can accept ZEC at POS with automatic fiat settlement, eliminating volatility and operational friction. By delivering a functional ZEC wallet, on/off-ramps, swaps, merchant tools, and POS acceptance across Nigeria and Ghana, Myaza directly addresses the current lack of simple, real-world ZEC payment infrastructure and expands ZEC’s utility for commerce, remittances, and small-business transactions in high-growth African markets. Applicant is requesting $48,900.

      • Jason: This isn’t a well-known wallet, and there isn’t a lot of information about it. Besides that, we already have a number of wallets that we funded in the past and we’re not looking to fund any other wallets further.

      • Declined

  • Zchat

    • ZCHAT is a self-custody, Zcash-native messenger that uses shielded transactions as private messages, turning the Zcash light client into a secure chat backend. The grant will upgrade the current web MVP into a production-ready, cross-platform app by hardening the Rust light client, defining robust memo formats for DMs and group chats, improving mainnet infrastructure, adding mobile apps, and completing UX, documentation, security review, and open-sourcing. This solves the lack of modern, user-friendly messaging built on Zcash privacy, increasing real-world ZEC utility and shielded pool usage. Applicant is requesting $60,000.

      • Jason: Zingo has a product that they’ve started on. They’re waiting for memo bundles to fix an outstanding security issue, which will be released in NU7. I think they’re going to release that after. Outside of that, what other feedback do we have for this team?

      • Zerodartz: Not a lot of engagement from the community and Zcash isn’t great right now for messaging. Even though you can do it, it’s not user friendly and there isn’t a good way to make it secure and user friendly right now. Unreasonable to fund this right now.

      • Declined

  • CompZ

    • CompZ is an open-source, Zcash-native compliance and attestation SDK that enables enterprises, custodians, and exchanges to prove regulatory compliance using zero-knowledge proofs—without revealing transaction data or weakening Zcash’s privacy. It provides cryptographic “Proof-of-Compliance” artifacts, Zcash-native verification tools, and a developer-friendly SDK that supports auditability without surveillance. By treating compliance as a cryptographic problem instead of a data-exposure problem, CompZ removes the false trade-off between privacy and regulation, making shielded transactions viable for real-world and institutional deployment while strengthening Zcash’s role as a production-grade privacy system. Applicant is requesting $60,000.

      • Jason: This request is out of scope for something that we want to fund.

      • Artkor: I don’t see a need for this proposal.

      • Declined

  • FLASH Bridge

    • FLASH Bridge is the first privacy-preserving cross-chain bridge that routes Bitcoin through Zcash’s shielded pool and into Solana using Arcium MPC encryption, keeping amounts and addresses private throughout the entire flow. It enables Bitcoin users to access Zcash’s privacy with a single transaction and lets ZEC holders use Solana DeFi via native ZEC—not wrapped tokens—while maintaining full end-to-end confidentiality. The project transforms Zcash from an isolated privacy chain into a core privacy layer for cross-chain activity, expanding shielded pool usage, enabling private DeFi participation, and providing an open-source reference architecture for secure, privacy-preserving bridging. Applicant is requesting $80,000.

      • Gguy: The proposal didn’t give me confidence in the team’s ability to deliver that the solutions were well defined.

      • Zerodartz: This proposal says that Zcash isn’t easily usable in major DeFi ecosystems like Solana, Ethereum but I think thanks to NEAR Intents that’s actually not true and it’s already very usable. Of course more bridges are better, but this proposal and developer doesn’t have enough track record to give us enough confidence.

      • Declined

  • Zcash Ghana

    • Zcash Ghana seeks to expand education, awareness, and real-world adoption of Zcash across Ghana through ongoing community-building, financial-privacy outreach, and developer engagement. Having already hosted meetups, X-Spaces, and onboarding over 130 people to Zcash wallets, the project will scale its impact by running monthly activities—including physical meetups, developer workshops, roadshows, social media education, and community challenges—to introduce more Ghanaians and local businesses to Zcash’s privacy features and practical uses. The grant will support sustained educational programming, stronger community engagement, and collaboration with local Web3 groups, helping position Zcash as a trusted privacy-focused blockchain for users, developers, and enterprises across Ghana. Applicant is requesting $11,400.

      • Jason: We think the community still has more to prove, they’re still new, and we’d like to see them continue to get funding from ZecHub before coming back with a request to ZCG.

      • Declined

  • Point

    • Point is a privacy-first AI infrastructure platform that delivers confidential GPU compute for AI agents using Intel TDX and Nvidia Confidential Computing, with guaranteed user anonymity through Zcash (ZEC) payments via disposable addresses and Mullvad-style 16-digit login codes. It provides a browser-based interface, customizable agents, advanced research and reasoning tools, and an OpenAI-compatible API—all running inside hardware-verified TEEs so user data, queries, and agent operations remain fully private. Point solves the open-source AI paradox by making powerful models accessible without exposing sensitive information, enabling both individuals and developers to use cutting-edge AI with cryptographic privacy guarantees and zero personal data collection. Applicant is requesting $44,000.

      • Jason: We’re not interested in funding AI agents at this time.

      • Gguy: For future reference, anyone applying for AI grants needs to clearly demonstrate the usefulness of these systems before we go funding this type of work because often the investment doesn’t pay off in this field.

      • Declined

  • Zcash Nigeria 2026

    • This project aims to deepen Zcash awareness and adoption in Nigeria by delivering accurate, localized education on financial privacy, strengthening community engagement, and expanding real-world usage. Building on recent growth across social platforms, the initiative will produce culturally relevant content, host meetups and AMA sessions, collaborate with Web3 and fintech communities, and support merchants in accepting ZEC. By addressing misinformation, limited resources, and low privacy literacy, the project seeks to empower Nigerians with practical knowledge, foster a vibrant and sustainable Zcash community, and promote the long-term adoption of privacy-preserving financial tools. Applicant is requesting $68,600.

      • Jason: ZCG is discussing this grant and remains open to community feedback.

      • Remains open

  • ZIG : Zcash Integration Guardrail

    • ZIG (Zcash Integration Guardrail) is a small CLI and CI-ready tool that helps teams safely migrate between Zcash node stacks by automatically comparing a project’s existing configs and RPC usage against versioned compatibility profiles for a target setup. Instead of relying on manual document review and trial-and-error upgrades, ZIG quickly identifies breaking or obsolete configuration options and unsupported RPC methods, producing both human-readable and machine-consumable reports. This reduces migration risk, standardizes compatibility checks across the ecosystem, and provides an extensible foundation for future Zcash upgrades. Applicant is requesting $25,000.

      • Jason: We’ve requested some specific community feedback before voting.

      • Remains open

  • Zcash Shielded support in Ledger Wallet and Ledger devices

    • This project delivers a fully updated Ledger Zcash Device app and Ledger Wallet integration that adds secure, audited support for shielded (Orchard) transactions alongside existing transparent functionality. It introduces native shielded send/receive, balance sync, memo support, transaction history, and transparent ZEC swaps within Ledger Wallet Desktop, backed by a light-client integration and comprehensive testing. On the device side, it provides clear-signing, Unified Address support, shielding/deshielding flows, and upgraded cryptography in Ledger OS (ZIP-32 and Pasta curves), ensuring full compatibility with modern Zcash. This work replaces the soon-to-be-deprecated transparent-only implementation and gives Ledger users first-class, production-ready access to Zcash’s privacy features. Applicant is requesting $300,000.

      • Jason: We’ve worked closely with the Ledger team on this proposal. It’s just for shielded integration. It doesn’t include maintenance and support. The amount is in line with our expectations. The grant has also been reviewed by the ECC team, specifically Daira-Emma, who gave some feedback. So I think we can approve this as it’s more of a formality, and just let them continue to work on shielded support.

      • Zerodartz: Agreed, community is waiting for shielded ZEC support on Ledger, and this is the most likely way for it to become reality.

      • Approved

  • ZecHub 2026

    • Over the past three years, ZecHub has grown into a key open-source education hub for the Zcash ecosystem, onboarding 232 new contributors, building active multi-platform communities, forming cross-project partnerships, and delivering a steady stream of tutorials, events, governance support, and ecosystem communication. This proposal seeks to expand that impact in 2026 by strengthening ZecHub’s visual brand identity, launching a dedicated ZEC bounties platform, enhancing its newsletter and educational content, advancing DAO-based governance and FROST-enabled operations, and deepening collaborations across privacy-tech communities. Planned initiatives include expanded tutorials and podcasts, ecosystem workshop participation, dashboard and Arborist call management, election voting-authority operations, two developer-focused hackathons, merch store operations using shielded payments, continued Namada validator activity, and stewardship of the “My First Zcash” project. Through these efforts, ZecHub aims to improve community understanding, support contributor onboarding, test and document emerging infrastructure, and provide a reliable, global hub for education, coordination, and engagement across the growing Zcash ecosystem. Applicant is requesting $419,361.

      • Gguy: ZecHub provides very visible benefits to the Zcash community and I support them going forward.

      • Artkor: I’m ready to approve now.

      • Jason: Let’s give it a few more days for community feedback. I think ZecHub has proven themselves a vital part of the Zcash ecosystem; they’re one of the core Zcash orgs. They do a ton of work and are strongly valued by the community. It would be a mistake not to continue to support this program in 2026. They have my full support.

      • Zerodartz: ZecHub has been one of the strongest lifters in the past year - the improvements are clearly visible. Waiting also for more community feedback. From the initial view I’m concerned the planned bounty budget might not be big enough in case the market gets weaker over next year. Gotta plan with these risks in mind.

      • Remains open

  • Zcash Brazil 2026

    • This proposal seeks to strengthen global Zcash privacy education and ecosystem support through an expanded Zcash Brazil initiative. In 2026, the team will provide full-time development, maintenance, and user support across 11 existing products while adding a junior developer and a motion-focused designer to increase capacity. Responding to rising financial surveillance, new Brazilian regulations, and accelerating global interest in private digital payments, the project advances a strategy centered on education, peer-to-peer adoption, and advocacy. By coordinating with core Zcash organizations and international communities, maintaining cutting-edge tools such as ZebraPi, and demonstrating real-world shielded ZEC use cases, Zcash Brazil aims to serve as a key hub for talent, testing, outreach, and localized resources—positioning Zcash as an essential instrument of financial privacy and sovereignty in Brazil and beyond. Applicant is requesting $354,989.

      • GGuy: Zcash Brazil provides significant positive impact which I support. I believe ZCG needs to have a deeper discussion about the ongoing cost of these grants as these teams continue to grow and require larger funding amounts before we jump into approving this grant.

      • It’s too early to vote so this grant remains open for community feedback and ZCG deliberation.

Brainstorm Session Follow-Ups

  • Defi Strategist

    • ZCG has signed an IC agreement with an individual to start January 1st as a DeFi Strategist. He’ll introduce himself to the community on the Forum shortly. The agreement is for a three-month probationary period with the option to extend.
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I want to express my gratitude for taking the time to review my submission and finding value in it: Bootstrapped and deterministic builds a la StageX

I will continue the work and keep everyone informed on the progress.

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