Below please find the latest @ZcashGrants meeting minutes and Public Dashboard link.
Attendance:
- Aditya
- Brian
- Burns
- Jason
- Michael
- Alex Bornstein (ZF resource)
- Daniel Wolande (ZF resource)
- Jack Gavigan (ZF resource)
- Danika Delano acting as notetaker
Key Takeaways:
- Everyone on the call welcomed Burns as the newest committee member.
- All members unanimously approved the Zcash Ecosystem Security Lead grant pending they review the revised proposal.
- The committee summarized the recorded call with 37 Laines saying they were receptive to feedback but there was some misalignment of success metrics; all members look forward to reviewing their revised proposal.
- ZCG asked ZF about their grants program; Jack explained that ZFs’s focus so far this year has been on supporting ZCG but ZF is actively looking at funding specific things that are closely aligned with ZF’s activities and strategy, and expects to announce some grants in the coming months.
- ZCG addressed some concerns with the Inventory Management Software grant and were not ready to make a decision.
- ZCG rejected the Zcon3 Viewing Party in Kampala, Uganda proposal as funding meet ups and viewing parties does not set a good precedent.
- ZCG brought up concerns with use-cases and target audience with the Accelerating Zcash on FPGA Clusters grant. They agreed to take more time to review in detail and figure out next steps.
- ZCG discussed the Electrum Fork For Zcash asking questions about support for shielded transactions and team experience; the committee was optimistic but decided to take more time to review.
- ZCG discussed the DeFi for ZEC: Shielded ZEC DeFi wallet for Ethereum, BSC and Polygon grant with main concerns being if it is Zcash focused, the lack of adoption of RenZec, and not being familiar with the applicant; they agreed that they need more time to review.
- ZCG answered many of Danika’s questions about their session at Zcon3 and announced that Burns will be participating in the panel.
- ZCG and ZF agreed if there is a specific request regarding the ZCG treasury (grant or discretionary fund), it should be written down to prevent confusion.
Notes:
Welcome to Burns
- ZF and ZCG members welcomed Burns. Jason explained the meeting process and the process of posting meeting minutes.
Open Grant Proposals
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- Jason refreshed everyone’s memory on Taylor Hornby’s grant; since the last meeting ZCG had a call and addressed questions, concerns, and expectations; Brian posted a summary to the forum and shared that they want to delay the start date to September to transfer responsibilities at ECC; all members felt comfortable with the proposal but they haven’t had a chance to talk to Burns so they asked if he had a chance to review.
- Burns shared that he had reviewed it and thinks it’s a great thing for the ecosystem.
- Aditya added that they agreed on monthly sync-up so he wanted to make sure it is in the contract. Alex replied that if there are any terms ZCG wants to be enforceable, they should make sure it’s clear what those things are in the proposal. The proposal and standard grant terms and conditions will govern this engagement.
- All members unanimously approved the grant pending they review the revised proposal.
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- Jason shared that ZCG had a call with 37 Laines and posted the recording publicly; they did a retro on the past grants and then reviewed the new grant; 37 Laines are receptive to feedback; after they work on revising their proposal in the next few days, they will set up another meeting; ZCG is not voting today.
- Aditya voiced that the committee members did convey feedback; 37 Laines’ response was that they are aware and are taking care of it; that marketing did not go a long way; though they thought they were successful in gaining more viewers than ZF’s social media channels, so there is some disconnect; he is looking forward to reviewing the revised proposal. Michael agreed that they were receptive to feedback, but discounted some of it with good manners. Jason added that organic marketing via social media proved to be more effective than their traditional marketing strategy, and he wanted to see that reflected in their revised grant proposal.
- Burns said he is interested to see what they come back with; the quality is good, it’s just a matter of economics; eventually we will need the next million people to use Zcash. Aditya said there are a lot of issues around poor wallet experience which need to be prioritized and the timing of funding educational proposals without a plan to convert users to Zcash is a concern.
- Jason asked if the ECC engineers have a fix to the wallet problems. Aditya replied that that’s the expectation but there is no solution.
- Brian stated that the community would like to see more professional content to be used for a variety of reasons; the release wouldn’t be for months; he would like to see marketing dialed back and agrees that it’s tough economically; he appreciated that their response to seeking combined funding from different sources brings in different desires and ZCG is the most pure form.
- Jason mentioned that the question about ZF or ECC funding grants came up; he hasn’t heard much about the ZF grants program. Jack replied that the recent priority for ZF has been on supporting ZCG; he felt weird to have a program effectively competing; ZF’s approach is to look at specific things we think are necessary, and ZF is interested in funding ourselves for a specific reason. There are a couple of grants in the pipeline; hopefully everyone will see a presentation at Zcon3 about one grant we’ve made; we hope that another grant will yield results later this year.
- Jason brought up Tor and said that he thinks it better serves ZF’s objectives rather than the Zcash community; he thinks (based on this post from Eran Tromer discussing the idea guiding ZIP 1014’s creation of the MGRC) of ZCG as funding major grants, and ZF would be minor (or regular) grants; it’s good to clarify the roles between the two. Jack replied that ZCG’s stated role is to bring new teams into the zcash ecosystem and he doesn’t think ZIP 1014 specifies what the ZF grants program should do. Aditya agreed that ZF is a better candidate than ZCG to fund the Tor project. Brian asked what the threshold is for allocating funding. Jack clarified that the ZF program is not on hold for financial reasons; ZF is not tightening our belts, we are hiring to replace an engineer and are continuing with that search, crypto winter is affect the fertility of the ground we’re targeting; people are likely to be more skeptical; the price feeds into the sentiment but it’s not because of price.
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- Jason summarized that they propose to develop inventory management software for $4,100 USD; the current consensus is that the proposal is vague and ZCG is not sure how it will leverage Zcash.
- Aditya said he hasn’t reviewed it yet and wants to learn more about the developer and their target customer.
- Burns said it’s a tough hill to climb to have user adoption outside a niche group.
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Zcon3 Viewing Party in Kampala, Uganda
- Jason summarized that the proposal is for a viewing party for Zcon3 for $4,500 USD; they previously applied for a grant that was rejected and then they were referred to the ambassador program.
- Jason announced that ZCG is not interested in funding; it sets a bad precedent and the amount doesn’t make sense for what it is. Brian added that they have the ambassador program for outreach.
- Aditya mentioned of attending Google I/O Extended View Party at different cities in the world, usually the event host is responsible to fund viewing parties, maybe ZF will consider funding it in the future when Zcash grows in size.
- Michael agreed that it’s not clear what the value is for the price tag. Burns agreed that ZCG funding meetups or viewing parties is not sustainable.
- All members rejected the proposal.
- Dan asked if they wanted him to repoint the applicant to the ambassador program. Jason said he could be an ambassador candidate for Uganda but not for the event.
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Accelerating Zcash on FPGA Clusters
- Jason summarized that they are requesting $130,000 USD and there is not much interest on the forum; it’s difficult to determine if there would be a demand; ZCG hasn’t discussed it yet; maybe they could have the engineers at ZF or ECC review?
- Aditya said he’s not sure if there is still a use-case; he needs to know the target audience; does Zcash have a FPGA hacker community? Brain agreed that the target audience is the biggest challenge.
- Jack clarified that this isn’t about mining; it is about generating ZKP quicker; he has seen it crop up a few times; when was at ECC working on Sapling the question was how much faster is it going to make it and how fast will it be on mobile; he understands that they would use FPGA to speed up proof generation; ZF has previously funded research in this space; he could speculate on potential users but he’s not sure it’s going to be widespread use if deployed tomorrow.
- Aditya said it’s difficult to find & evaluate end users and asked if there is a need for zk-FPGA hardware. Burns replied that probably not for Zcash; other chains use zkp differently and he doesn’t see it greatly improving the end user experience. Aditya agreed.
- Jason stated that they should take time to review in detail and figure out next steps; ZCG is not ready to vote yet.
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- Jason summarized that for $6,500 USD they would support NU5 and Halo; Shawn (ZOMG member in 2021) had encouraged the individual to post but they posted the proposal in the wrong section of the forum on June 11th so they didn’t see it.
- Aditya said it looks obvious; his concern is if they can make shielded transactions and NU5 work; he wants to see if the team has experience; he’s supportive, especially for the price tag.
- Brian shared that his impression is that it is the first in a series of grants; it’s intriguing and he would like to learn more.
- Michael agreed that the price tag is low and they need more love in the wallet world so he’s optimistic
- The committee agreed that it’s on hold.
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DeFi for ZEC: Shielded ZEC DeFi wallet for Ethereum, BSC and Polygon
- Jason explained that the proposal is for an integrated wallet solution for $1.385 million USD; the applicants are the Right to Privacy Foundation, RAILGUN project team; he hasn’t had time to review yet.
- Michael pointed out that there hasn’t been much adoption of RenZec but he doesn’t know all the nuances involved.
- Aditya said it seems similar to Unstoppable; he doesn’t know if Railgun’s audience wants ZEC; it’s not a Zcash focused project and he’s not sure if they will support shielded transactions. Michael added that he’s not sure how much funding they are doing. Burns said he is interested in hearing more but is skeptical; he’s not sure if it will be Zcash first or just an add on to a wallet.
- Jason mentioned seeing a photo with Zooko, ML, and the RAILGUN team together at ETHDenver and recommended ZCG possibly reaching out to ML or Zooko to see if either has an opinion on the project.
- Jack told the committee that the Right to Privacy Foundation is registered as a company in the UK and it appears to be a suitable corporate structure for a charity; however, they do not qualify as the equivalent of a 501(c)(3); he’s never heard of them before.
Zcon3
- The committee answered Danika’s questions about Zcon3 confirming that Burns will participate in the panel and they will ask Hudson if he will chair their panel; If Hudson cannot chair, they may ask Dan.
Other Business
- Burns asked about Bolt and ZK channels. Jack replied that he hasn’t had an update; he will ping Ayo; he remembers something about fixing malleability since Nu5 was supposed to happen a year ago.
- Aditya asked Dan to get in touch with Algorand to see if they have stopped their ambassador program, relating to ongoing review of Ambassador applicants.
- The podcast with Justin and Justina has been posted on the forum for community feedback so the ball is in their court on that.
- Jack brought up that there was a question about how he would hedge a 2 million grant; he would investigate if there are any trading desks that can do large trades, otherwise he would sell a regular amount every day; ZCG and Jack agree that when there is a specific request with regards to hedging, it should be written down so there is no confusion. Jason said he appreciated the communication and execution by ZCG and ZF for hedging the ambassadors’ pay out of the discretionary budget and suggested following a similar process for hedging going forward.