Zcash Community Grants Meeting Minutes 6/26/23

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 - There will be changes in the current Ambassador lineup.
    • Outreach Coordinator RFP - ZCG gave some background information on how Beth has become the new Outreach Coordinator.
    • Ledger - Hahn is still waiting to hear from Ledger.
    • Membrane Finance - ZCG had a call with QEDIT and Membrane Finance.
    • Zcon4 - The committee wanted clarity on the panels and discussions ZCG will participate in this year’s conference.
    • Farewell Burns - This was Burns’s last ZCG meeting.
  • Other
    • Statement on ZCG Election

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 continue to be revisited as new committee members come on board and at each ZCG meeting.

  • Kryptik Wallet - Jason summarized this grant proposal. The Kryptic wallet team is asking for $20,000 to develop a simple web wallet for Zcash that supports shielded transactions and secures assets with threshold cryptography. Jason noted that ZCG had seen a couple of web-wallet proposals this year, and similar to the last proposal, the committee decided to reject this due to concerns around security, primarily due to private key management.

    • Dan will link other recent wallet grant rejections with similar reasons. Amber will send those specific grants to Dan.

  • Zcash: Ecosystem Website - Jason outlined this proposal. The applicant is asking for $7,630 to develop an Ecosystem Website for Zcash that will provide a summary & information about Zcash projects. The applicant says the ecosystem website would provide information regarding Zcash projects to investors, traders, users, and other projects and partners.

    • It is too early to officially vote on it, but the committee is leaning towards rejecting it because of the similarities between this and Alphaday and find no need to have more than one of this type of website at this time.

  • Nfticks - Defi - Jason summarized this grant. The applicant requests $200,000 to develop the world’s first fully decentralized ticketing platform on top of Zcash.

    • This proposal is too early to vote on, but ZCG is leaning towards rejecting it because it cannot be integrated into Zcash, nor does it seem that Nfticks fully understands what Zcash is. Jason said that maybe after ZSA’s are fully functional, something like this could work, but for now, this grant is out of scope and not within the budget.

  • UniFFI Library Addenda - Jason gave background for this resubmitted proposal as he has a conflict of interest with Eiger and did not give his opinion about it. The committee rejected it at the May 25th meeting, citing that ZCG wanted the UniFFI team to finish their original grant and demonstrate that the UniFFI Library is something that the Zcash community can easily use. They completed Milestone 5 of the previous grant and have re-submitted this second proposal. The UniFFI team is asking for $96,000 to

    • (1) move the UniFFI-supported library closer to the original library
    • (2) create a small demo of a wallet showcasing how to use this library on Android and iOS.
    • The committee gave their opinions on this grant. Burns and Brian are both in favor of the team and grant. Michael and Amber had no strong opinions about this grant, but Amber did note that she was hesitant about large grants because of ZCG’s limited budget.
    • This grant was left open because it is too early to vote and will be discussed further at the next brainstorm meeting.

  • Arculus Cold Storage Wallet - Jason recapped this grant. Brian, Dan, and Jason spoke to Arculus at Consensus earlier this year. They had previously submitted a proposal last year but never posted it to the forum. Now, they’ve revised and fine-tuned their proposal. They’re asking for $228,151.60 to integrate shielded ZEC into the Arculus cold storage wallet. They say they’ll provide full Arculus ecosystem support for Zcash and Zcash Orchard shielded transactions.

    • This grant is too early to vote on, but ZCG discussed this during their brainstorm and would like to schedule a call to get more details.
    • The committee gave their initial impressions on this grant. Michael said that Zcash needs a cold storage wallet solution in the mainstream. Brian said he felt encouraged that Arculus was front and center at Consensus but was concerned about wallet syncing potential challenges. Although Burns will not be able to vote on this, he voiced that Zcash needs hardware and multi-signature wallets; therefore, if Arculus can deliver on that, it should get supported. Jason said he was on the fence about this proposal because the price is a large percentage of their treasury, and he would like to wait for ZEC to recover before proceeding. Jason does agree that a cold storage wallet solution is important. However, Jason stated he’s worried that there hasn’t been much excitement from the community about Arculus’ product, which is perhaps due to the fact that this company is not well known, and that might indicate that ZEC holders may not be inclined to purchase an Arculus device, but rather wait for Ledger or Trezor devices to support shielded ZEC.
    • ZCG will continue to discuss this during their next brainstorm before Dan reaches out to set up a call with Arculus.

Brainstorm Session Follow-Ups

  • Global Ambassador Program

    • On Friday, ZCG discussed with Yoditar about some ambassador performances. The committee identified 2 or 3 ambassadors to cancel or not renew their contracts after June 30. ZCG will wait for the end-of-the-month reports before communicating with those ambassadors and then will contact Alex in early July to update ZF.
    • Olek and ZecMec’s 3-month trial ends on June 30, but ZCG will wait to decide whether to extend their agreement until the end-of-month reports are in.
      • Alex added that he’s heard from his team that ZecMec has been a great communicator and a very enthusiastic community member.

  • Outreach Coordinator RFP

    • ZCG has officially brought on Beth as the Outreach Coordinator. The committee wanted to give some background information on how things transpired, from her running for ZCG to applying for the RFP. On her announcement thread, David from Zcash Media pointed her to the RFP and said he thought she might be a good fit for the role. She reached out to Jason since he authored the RFP, and they discussed her interest in the position, and she was really excited about the role. From there, she put together a proposal, set up a call with ZCG, and discussed her proposal with the committee. They all agreed the role of Outreach Coordinator was important and that she was an ideal fit for the contractor role. ZCG’s budget is obviously a concern, so they negotiated the compensation a bit and included a three-month trial period with the possibility to extend it at a possible increased rate.
    • One way this position will be valuable, despite the bear market, is she can reach out to developers in regions where the dollar’s value goes far (like India/Brazil) and find developers who can work on projects that are in scope of what we want to fund. The committee is really excited about Beth joining in this capacity and sees active outreach as the next iteration of the ZCG program to help them grow and evolve.

  • Ledger

    • Hanh let Jason know that no one from Ledger has reached out to him as of yet. Jason asked if it would be possible for Dodger to reach out to Ledger again or give Hahn the contact information so that he could reach out to Ledger directly. ZF to follow-up.

  • Membrane Finance

    • Jason said the committee had a call with QEDIT and Membrane Finance on the morning of June 26. Membrane Finance is another subsidiary of the Equilibrium Group, and they build core stablecoin infrastructure, specifically the EUROe. ZCG wanted to see if there was an opportunity for a partnership between QEDIT and Membrane Finance and whether it might make sense at some point for Membrane Finance to apply for a ZCG Grant.
    • Jason said it was a very interesting call; both QEDIT and Membrane Finance are very knowledgeable on issues related to stablecoin issuance in Europe. Before discussing a partnership with Membrane Finance or a ZCG grant, the first step is understanding the regulatory implications of launching a stablecoin on Zcash. Membrane Finance has a relationship with the Finnish regulator. It can start the conversation to educate them on zero-knowledge technology and better understand if it’s possible to launch EUROe in a manner compliant with MiCA. According to Membrane Finance, if the Finnish regulators give the green light to EUROe on Zcash, it could be “passported” to other European countries and receive implied approval.
    • The next steps are to keep the conversation going between QEDIT and Membrane Finance. Jonathan is going to introduce them to another founder at QEDIT. ZCG will also keep in touch and update the community on how things advance.

  • Zcon4

    • The committee wanted clarity on the panels and discussions ZCG will participate in this year. Dan will email the committee the specific asks and sessions ZF will need from them.

  • Farewell Burns

    • The committee thanked Burns for serving on ZCG for the year and wished him the best. They also encouraged him to stay connected with Zcash. Burns said he also enjoyed working with the committee and will continue to be a part of the community.

Other: Committee Statement on ZCG Election

  • Jason spoke on behalf of the committee on what they discussed at their latest brainstorm session about the ZCG elections, and the committee unanimously voted to add the following statement to the meeting minutes:

“The committee wants to express the following concerns regarding the recent ZCG elections and the communication surrounding Beth’s withdrawal. We are dissatisfied with the handling of the situation, as it has caused unnecessary confusion and raised doubts about the legitimacy of the ZCG election process.

The existing process was clearly outlined in the initial memo sent at the start of the election, stating that “the two candidates with the highest approval votes will become the new ZCG committee members immediately.” This approval voting process has been consistently followed in all ZCG, ZOMG, and MGRC elections.

We disagree with the way Dodger communicated the implications of Beth’s withdrawal on the election. First, while it was appropriate to inform ZCAP voters of Beth’s withdrawal via email, we believe the statement that “Beth’s withdrawal may prompt a reevaluation of your vote” caused unnecessary confusion given the established election process. Second, Dodger mentioning on the forum that receiving less than a 50% approval rate may possibly disqualify a candidate was not only unnecessary to say, but also inaccurate, as there have been instances where committee members were elected despite having less than 50% approval. Lastly, initiating a discussion on formalizing the election process into a ZIP should not occur while an election is in progress as it implies that the current process is flawed or inadequate before the community has assessed its effectiveness.

As a result of these actions, community members are confused about the election process, the integrity of the ZCG elections is being questioned, and there have even been calls for ZCG independence. Additionally, people are urging ZCG to demonstrate leadership and provide recommendations for improving the election process.

We believe the current election process is clear as it stands, and that this situation is the result of poor communication that could have been avoided if Dodger had consulted with us before sending out the updated notice to ZCAP. While we acknowledge that organizing and administering ZCG elections falls under ZF’s responsibility, we would have appreciated being included in the conversation. For example, it would have been beneficial if Dodger had shared the memo with us beforehand or engaged in a discussion about the implications of Beth’s withdrawal on the election process. We were in close contact with Alex and Dan from ZF while considering Beth for the position of Outreach Coordinator, and most (if not all) of us were on the same page regarding how the election would proceed in light of Beth’s withdrawal.”

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when are we gunna here anything about the zcash media project status because thats one of the most expensive active grants and theyre supposed to be doing the first deliverable in August but its already July and theres not been any updates in months?

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i talked with @David_Heisenberg in pms few days ago and he said they r busy making the videos for past months. since grant was approved bit later than first planned, the timeline will move a bit and first videos in september/october if all goes well. i asked him to post also any update how they doing to twitter - maybe there will be one day.

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that would be sweet cause community spent so much on that project but hasnt got no updates about it forever and all the Zcash Media channels been abandoned all year hope they get some hype going for everyone so the new videos get more popularity than old ones.

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Continuing the discussion from Beth for ZCG (June 2023) [Withdrawn]:

It does appear that Beth applied for the RFP - ZCG Outreach Coordinator position after declaring her candidacy, and the ZCG committee accepted her role, fully aware that this decision would render her ineligible to stand for the election. Shouldn’t this be considered a factor in evaluating whether the ZCG is potentially interfering in the elections?

It is disheartening to see that our community elected a committee that struggles to collaborate with a small, mission-dedicated team at ZF. In the grander scheme of things, there are more significant challenges that require attention, yet it appears that power dynamics and games are taking precedence over finding solutions.

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“Interfering in the elections” is a bit of a stretch. The timeline of events is documented in the meeting minutes and pasted below. We kept ZF in the loop of what was occurring to ensure we were acting appropriately and in line with ZF’s Conflict of Interest policy.

There is no rule that precludes ZCG candidates from applying for RFP positions. Also, Beth was not required to withdraw from the election. She chose to withdraw because she preferred the Outreach Coordinator position over being a ZCG committee member. If Beth had remained in the election and won, she would have had to choose between the two roles, as ZCG committee members are not eligible to become grantees.

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The fact remains that the ZCG offered the job to a candidate who was already running for election. However, it remains unclear why there was such urgency in making this decision, and if there were any concerns about Beth’s ability to contribute to ZCG outreach being a part of the committee. (irrespective of filling the RFP role)

Can @Beth please confirm whether she received any advice or pressure to withdraw her candidacy?

I raise this issue because it is a matter of serious concern when the committee unanimously votes to add a statement expressing dissatisfaction with the handling of the election by ZF?

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There is nothing in this @aiyadt. Please stop creating drama. Stop undermining ZCG because you didnt get $1 million for your outragous grant. The current ZCG is doing an awesome job. Move away from this one. No mud you throw at ZCG will stick.

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For me, this was a logical decision. My background and skill set align well with the outreach position and I felt that I could be more impactful in this specific role. I will be working closely with the Grant Committee and they have done a great job making me feel like part of the team already! I see this as a win for everyone.

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Thank you for your concern; we are doing just fine and on the way to delivering the best Zcash wallet experience, even with partial funding because we are dedicated to the Zcash network.

I see that your playful banter/slander may be common on other platforms like Telegram, here we value respectful communication and open discussion. I have every right to question the decision-making process and assess the health of the ecosystem as a Zodler. Only with feedback and community inputs we can avoid repeating mistakes, and improve and grow Zcash stronger.

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I think we all also need to remember the timeline of events that occured at this time.

  • Beth announced on twitter she was laid off from ECC on 25th May
  • Beth subsequently announced her candidacy on 2nd of June
  • David posted about the RFC on 5th June
  • Beth announced her withdrawal on the 22nd if June

While I was not part of the decisions made at this time I appreciate the efforts and flexibility from everyone to make this happen. I appreciate that ZCG and Beth were able to productively and quickly come to an agreement about this role. I also appreciate ZF for being responsive and receptive to making this happen during the election process. Being agile is a skill and super power and everyone demonstrated it in this instance. :clap::tada:

@aiyadt, if we truely want to reflect on what went wrong to cause all this confusion and tough decision making during a ZCG election I think this was mostly caused by ECC doing their reorg during the elections. This forced everyone to have to think on their feet and adjust to these changes. During times like this I feel like we need to be a little agile to reach the best outcomes. I hope you can appreciate why ZCG, Beth, and many others felt this was the best outcome for Zcash. Unfortunately to make this happen it caused a little messiness. I’m sorry if that has caused you concern :heart:.

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