Zcash Community Grants Meeting Minutes 2/5/2024

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

Attendance:

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

Key Takeaways:

Open Grant Proposals

  • Nym: Network Privacy for Zcash - Jason outlined this grant. This is a revised grant from Nym. The budget has been revised down from $670,000 to $150,000. The proposal focuses on integrating their mixnet technology with Zcash’s lightwalletd to provide network-level privacy and protect users from network surveillance. They estimate a 10-to-12 month timeline, and the integration targets lightwalletd initially, which would lay the groundwork for future integrations to full nodes and broader wallet support. Zingo and possibly Zashi are interested in future integrations.
    • Jason said this grant was discussed at their brainstorm meeting, and came to a split decision. The committee went around to place their votes and rationale for this proposal.
    • Gguy emphasized that this grant demonstrated how ZCG could advance the privacy feature set, which is a priority, and voted to approve it despite the tight budget. Amber, initially undecided, ultimately supported the proposal and voted to approve it. Jason agreed with Gguy that this grant advances privacy, and said that Zcash having network-level privacy is very important. He also said there is potential for future integrations with nodes and wallets. He emphasized the high quality of the Nym team, their experience working in privacy and security, and the potential for a strong partnership with the Zcash ecosystem. Michael said he had doubts about the grant resulting in a usable solution in ZEC wallets, but ultimately, because the ask is small and could be important for privacy, he thinks it’s worth supporting. So, he voted to approve it.
    • Brian dissented, citing several concerns. He emphasized the absence of updated milestones on Submittable and suggested it was premature to vote on the grant. Brian expressed disinterest in funding the proposal due to current ZEC prices, despite alignment with Nym team values. He urged ZCG to prioritize the treasury. Additionally, he questioned ECC’s commitment to integrating Nym post-Zeboot. Brian also highlighted the cost implications for the community regarding Nym Network usage, noting the absence of subsidy in the revised proposal. Overall, he liked the proposal and agreed that network privacy is important but did not feel it was the right time and would prefer to wait a few months.
    • Jason responded to Brian’s concerns regarding the treasury, acknowledging shared thoughts on budgetary matters. He noted the availability of almost 100,000 ZEC and an additional USD balance of around $225,000 following the cancellation of underperforming grants and said ZCG could fund this proposal from the cancellations alone. Jason also said that reducing the proposal amount from $670,000 to $150,000 was a conservative move by ZCG.
    • ZCG voted to approve this revised grant proposal contingent on Nym making the appropriate changes on the Submittable platform and flushing out the milestone details. Deidra M will notify Nym of the contingency in the approval notification on the forum and Submittable.
  • Zcash SDK Implementation [JS/TS] - This proposal is from Chainsafe. They’re asking for $300,000 to implement and maintain a TypeScript SDK to enable more Zcash capabilities in-browser. They say that this project should provide groundwork and serve as a feasibility test for the development of a Zcash MetaMask Snap as well as a Web wallet that would utilize the Metamask Snap as a secure enclave for user keys. Their end goal is to give the millions of MetaMask users access to Zcash, which will help grow adoption and usability.
    • ZCG had a call with the ChainSafe team in January. The committee raised some concerns about the project’s viability, namely that a few different teams have tried to build a similar browser tool and failed, so they asked them to submit a smaller, exploratory grant to investigate whether the solution they are trying to implement is possible. ZCG also explained the budget situation to the Chainsafe team and that, currently, ZCG is only funding essential projects.
    • Dan worked with them to open their proposal in Submittable for editing, and they completed those edits. The next steps are for ZCG to check those revisions on the Gallery View of Submittable, for the grantee to post those changes on the forum to get community feedback, and for ZCG to discuss at the next brainstorm meeting.
    • ZF will contact Chainsafe to post the changes to their forum thread.
  • Zenith Full Node Wallet - Rene (aka Pitmutt) is asking for $124,800 to create a modern full-node wallet with support for Unified Addresses, Unified Viewing Keys, payment URIs, and a built-in address book to run alongside a zebra full node.
    • The committee unanimously approved this grant.
  • Coin Voting / Shielded Airdrop / Proof of Balance - This is from Hanh, and he is asking for $200,000 to support a proposal that allows holders to prove they own a certain amount of coins without revealing their holdings or transaction history. Proof of balance has several applications, including shielded airdrops and coinholder voting.
    • ZCG had a call with Hanh last week and asked him to limit this proposal to the first milestone of $40,000 for the ZIP. The rationale behind that decision is that the committee wanted more detail in subsequent milestones around the development work and what a front end might look like; those milestones depend on the ZIP. The committee agreed that breaking the ZIP out as a separate grant made sense.
    • The committee unanimously voted to approve the ZIP as a separate grant for $40,000. ZCG would like to get monthly updates from Hanh on the status of the ZIP process.
  • DAOsign: Smart Signature & Workflow Automation Platform - Jason summarized this grant. The DAOsign team seeks a $30,000 grant from the Zcash community to launch their smart platform on the Zcash blockchain, which they say would enhance governance and workflows for DAOs and web3 companies. Their platform focuses on verifiable signatures through proofs of identity, authority, and agreement, facilitating complex workflows and policy management with a level of anonymity.
    • ZCG did not think this grant was a good fit for Zcash. It feels like a copy-and-paste proposal that goes to many grants programs and, therefore, voted to reject it.
  • Zcash Grants and Ecosystem Observer - Jason outlined this grant proposal. This proposal is submitted by the Grant3 team, and they’re requesting $25,326 to develop a comprehensive database and user-friendly interface for Zcash grantees and ecosystem projects. The platform aims to enhance transparency and accessibility of grantee information, which would benefit Zcash community members and potential applicants. The deliverables include a fully functional website with grantee listings, an analytics hub, individual grantee pages, and social media spotlight content.
    • Jason said the grantee built a proof of concept and shared it on the forum late last year. Jason had provided them with the Dashboard and various other information about the grants program, which they used for their website’s data. Sharp P expressed to Jason that he wasn’t looking for a grant for this at the time, but if the community found it useful, Sharp P would apply for a retroactive grant.
    • The committee discussed this at their latest brainstorm meeting, and although it was too early to vote on, ZCG felt this proposal might be a better fit for the Minor Grants program. Jason and Gguy also agreed that the ask is high for this grant.

Brainstorm Session Follow-Ups

  • Underperforming Grants
    • ZCG wanted to ensure all the underperforming grants that were discussed in previous meetings were canceled. ZF confirmed.
  • Zingo! Milestone #2
    • Zancas sent the metrics to ZCG on Friday, so the committee confirmed on the forum that they approved milestone 2 payout for this grant.
      • Danika processed this payout on 2/5/2024.
  • Timesheets
    • ZF will send the committee a short document with instructions on how and when ZCG will need to submit their timesheets.

Other business

  • Pacu ZCG email approval
    • Dan relayed that Pacu has requested a ZCG email address. The committee unanimously approved this. Dan will reach out to Pacu this week.
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is there information on who voted YES or NO?

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Can someone provide the hyperlink for this Zingo grant?

The old zcash grants page has a broken link

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The meeting minutes detail how the committee voted. If the vote was entirely in favor or against, the minutes will note that we voted “unanimously” in either direction. Please let me know if you have any questions regarding a specific grant.

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Here are the links to the Zingo proposal:

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thanks for the fast reply!

the question was not about a specific grant directly. i just thought it would be nice to see with who of the members i feel most aligned!

*currently you are my number one @aquietinvestor

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