Zcash Community Grants Meeting Minutes 6/12/23

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

Attendance:

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

Key Takeaways:

  • Open Grant Proposals
  • Brainstorm Session Follow Ups
    • Global Ambassador Program: Tim’s contract has been extended for six months. Also, message to ambassadors on stipend requests for promotional merchandise.
    • RFPs: Zcash Memo Field Secure Messaging RFP on hold due to current market conditions.
    • Zcon4: ZF will give the committee detailed information on hotel reservations and timelines by next week.
    • Ledger: ZCG approval for milestone 2: Shielded Support for Ledger Hardware Wallets (NanoS+, NanoX)? Approved.
      • Forum post
      • Deliverables: Ledger app with Orchard & UA support
    • Shielded Labs: Jason stated that there is a partnership between Equilibrium and Shielded Labs for the sustainability fund.
  • Other
    • Burns asked for some specific grant statistics.

Open Grant Proposals

  • Bird Calls - Formally posted the second phase of the project, the integration phase, asking for $245,600. They think it will take a significant amount of work to integrate BTCpay into Birdcalls.

    • This proposal is “on hold” and will be revisited as new committee members come on board and at each ZCG meeting.

  • The Crypto Lounge Experience - Jason recapped this proposal. Daniel Benarroch is organizing a one-day event on Saturday, July 29th, that will include cryptography sessions focused on technical content and experimental sessions focused on “the human condition and the future of society.” The ask is $17,000, which would be used to cover the venue costs, production, and staff. In return, he says ZCG would receive “wide exposure” from event attendees and participants. The website reflects two other donation tiers for EUR 6,000 and EUR 3,000.

    • This sponsorship proposal was discussed during their brainstorming session, and it was decided that ZCG would fund EUR 3,000 tier. Jason asked if everyone was still in favor of funding. Everyone agreed, but Michael did say he did not have strong feelings either way.
    • Dan will reach out to Daniel B. privately and then open the grant for editing to reflect the tier ZCG is willing to fund. Once that is completed, Dan will approve it on behalf of ZCG.

  • B2B Cross-Border Payment Infrastructure - Jason summarized the proposal. This is from The Autify Network team. They’re asking for $400,000 to develop a cross-border payment infrastructure and supply-chain management platform that uses the power of blockchain and AI.

    • The committee discussed this during their brainstorming session and decided that this grant overall was too expensive and outside the scope of what ZCG would fund.

  • Tali AI: AI Driven Bot to Enhance Developer Relations - Jason outlined this grant. The Tali AI team is asking for $5,000. They propose building a specialized Discord bot for Zcash that will use the latest technology around LLM’s (Large Language Models) to import Zcash’s Github repos, documentation, video content, and Discord Q&A’s to provide an interface for Zcash users/developers to ask questions in natural language.

    • This proposal is too early to vote on, but it was discussed during their brainstorming session. It was determined that this grant proposal should be given to Minor Grants and have ZCAP make that decision.
    • Alex said there is yet to be a date for the next round of minor grant proposals but will inform ZCG when there is a set date.
    • Because it is still too early to vote, once the appropriate number of days passes, ZCG will conduct a mobile vote and let Dan know the final decision.
    • Update: On June 16 at their weekly Brainstorm Session, ZCG unanimously voted to reject this proposal and refer the applicant to the Zcash Foundation’s Minor Grants Program.

Brainstorm Session Follow-Ups

  • Global Ambassador Program
    • Tim’s (Tahiti/French Ambassador) trial period ended on May 31. ZCG voted to extend it for six months.
    • Chidi requested $1,280 for promotional merchandise. The committee rejected it because it was too soon after his last request.
      • ZCG wants to reiterate to ambassadors that occasional promotional merchandise requests are acceptable, but ambassadors who host physical meetups or other events are expected to use part of their stipends to cover the costs associated with hosting the event.
  • RFPs
    • The committee had a call with CoinFabrik about our “Zcash Memo Field Secure Messaging” RFP. The $60,000 was cited for a research or exploratory phase to determine the best way to develop. ZCG realized this project was not within the budget and has decided to put this RFP on hold. Brian posted to the forum this morning to inform the community. The RFP has been removed from the grants platform.
  • Zcon4
    • Jason asked for hotel details. Dan informed the committee that Zcon 4 would be held at the Hilton Diagonal Mar Barcelona and will send more information to them this week after the next ZF Zcon meeting.
  • Ledger
    • The approval for Milestone 2 needed to be discussed. Last meeting, ZCG approved Milestone 1, and with this milestone, the deliverable simply stated: Ledger app with Orchard & UA support. Jason said in the body of the grant the milestone states it is for the PR, and Hanh has completed that. Jason also said that in the future ZCG should consider requiring more detailed milestone descriptions. This payout was then put to a vote.
    • Michael said the functionality was there and voted to approve the payout. Burns said it was not perfect, but it worked, so he approved. Brian said it’s challenging, but he approved paying out this milestone. Amber agreed. Jason agreed with Michael, that the work was completed and Hanh should be paid out.
  • Shielded Labs
    • Jason stated that he recently announced a partnership between Equilibrium and Shielded Labs to develop the Zcash Sustainability Fund. He declared a conflict of interest regarding Equilibrium and Eiger as they both have been, and could be, ZCG grant requesters in the future. He will recuse himself from discussion and voting related to any of their future grant proposals (or other related matters).
    • Alex requested Jason follow up with an email stating the conflict to be added to his completed annual COI disclosure (completed). Alex also reminded the committee to do the same if their circumstances change.
    • Alex and Jason will discuss any future potential conflicts of interest related to Shielded Labs to ensure compliance with COI requirements.

Other

  • Burns asked for some specific grant statistics. ZF will research and respond shortly.
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