Part 2:
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BTCPayServer Multi-Store GraphQL Client
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Applicant proposes to rearchitect the plugin from the deprecated zcash-walletd RPC API to the Zkool GraphQL API, adding multi-store support (removing admin wallet requirement), integration/cheatmode testing in CI, and a merchant wiki covering solution selection and zecd/zcash-wallet-rpc migration guidance. Requesting $16,800.
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Artkor: I generally want to support initiatives that improve Zcash payment infrastructure. It is important to me that Zcash stays focused on real-world payments and does not move too far away from that idea, as I think happened with Bitcoin. So I see practical work that makes ZEC payments easier, more reliable, and more accessible as useful for the ecosystem. This may sound like a very general view, but it explains why I usually want to support proposals like this. So I want to support this one.
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Hanh: I will support even though I think it should have been done before. The amount is fairly low and it’s most likely going to be the last one. So just finish it up.
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Gguy: I’m happy to approve this one as well.
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Zerodartz: Zcash needs more than 1 payment system. BTCPayServer is used already and this update can broaden the amount of merchants who could accept ZEC. I’m ready to approve.
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Paul: I approve.
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Approved
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Applicant proposes to serve as the Zcash ecosystem’s dedicated policy representation organization — maintaining federal policymaker relationships, educating legislators and regulators about shielded transactions and selective disclosure, coordinating ecosystem-wide policy positions, producing public materials, responding to legislative/regulatory developments, and building coalitions with aligned organizations. Requesting $750,000.
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(Paul has recused himself from this discussion)
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Gguy: This is our second large grant today where we have to assess the potential impact these types of efforts can have. This is the type of grant where I can see the impacts rippling into the future of Zcash. Any foundations this team can establish, even if small and sometimes less obvious, that can be built upon, can have a sustained impact long after their efforts. PGP has already shown there is space for these efforts to occur. Hopefully this funding will help establish these strong foundations that can provide everlasting value. I approve.
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Hanh: Yeah, me too. At first, my question was whether ZCG was allowed to use funds for, not the right term but talking with regulators directly, members of the government directly. But it seems like it’s okay. So I think that in that respect the proposal is very strong and the team is experienced. The plan is well defined and has good metrics, achievable, so for me it’s a big plus. I mean nothing may happen but at least it seems like people thought about how to make it happen. And sure we cannot guarantee success but the plan in place is in the right direction. And if it cannot succeed then probably nobody would have.
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Zerodartz: Since this is one of the biggest grants we’ve seen in a while I think it’s an important one since there’s not basically any other organization that is meaningfully fighting for private money legislations and I think the main risk here is not funding it. Because normal people need to be made sure that they can use private money in everyday payments and they’re not criminals because of using it. Also I would like to see more regions covered but I understand that these are in the future plans. So it makes sense that the US is the main one right now and the expansion can come later. I’m ready to approve.
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Artkor: For me, this work has historically been closely associated with ECC, and I think moving it into an independent, community-level structure is both timely and justified, particularly from the standpoint of transparency and accountability. I also consider the requested amount a reasonable level of funding given the tangible policy, educational, and advocacy outcomes we should expect from an initiative of this scale. So I’m happy to approve this grant.
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Approved
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Zcash Hack-to-Dark At Devcon 8, Mumbai
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Applicant proposes a curated 75-person Zcash hackathon in Mumbai on November 3–4, 2026 (Devcon 8 week), targeting real ecosystem gaps (POS reference implementation, shielded payouts, WebZjs TypeScript layer, Ironwood tooling), with milestone-based prize structure (half at announcement, half after 30-day polish sprint), pre-loaded testnet funds, hand-reviewed applications, and in-house content production. Requesting $43,524.
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Gguy: I think the last event went really well. I think the impact that these events have are meaningful. I imagine that by continuing to fund events like this we will hopefully see the impact these events can have continue.
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Hanh: I think after the success of the previous one I think we should continue with similar events around the world. I approve.
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Paul: I agree, approve here too.
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Zerodartz: I’m ready to approve since they’ve shown good previous organization of the Berlin event which went quite well. I recently learned there were some communication problems between two teams, but I think that can be avoided or cleared up in the future if just people communicate during the event when something goes not as planned so they can still adjust or find alternative solutions.I think that the team is good and we need more of this type events and this hackathon might bring some new developers to Zcash. That would be a really nice turnout.
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Artkor: Last time they provided a lot of content about Zcash so I support this proposal too.
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Hanh: I’m thinking about working with ZecHub to bring some ZSA to the hackathon.
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Approved
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Zcash Arabia (August to December 2026)
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Applicant proposes to scale an existing Arabic-language Zcash education and community initiative across the MENA region, expanding educational content, user onboarding, and developer engagement for Arabic-speaking audiences. Requesting $27,000.
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Hanh: I think they have delivered on the stuff we asked so I’d approve this time. In particular what I was interested in was not the online thing like growing Telegram numbers and followers but the in-person events and the things that are a bit different from the other crypto projects such as the community activities. For me, it shows that they want to do something special, not the standard cookie cutter things.
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Gguy: In a world with AI it’s refreshing to see that team continue to make a human effort to support Zcash. Having said that, I would encourage this team to continue to engage within their communities and engage across the Zcash ecosystem. I think the more that our teams work together the more impact we can have. The more collaboration we see across the ecosystem the better. Having said that, I think this team is improving. I think their impact is slowly growing over time as well. Therefore I would like to support this grant and see what impact they can have for the rest of the year.
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Artkor: I’ll just say it since it’s already been approved. It seems that, at this point, my initial impression of this applicant has changed quite significantly. For someone who appears to rely very heavily on generated content, he has managed to do reasonably well and produce a visible amount of activity. But I no longer believe this is the kind of work that should be funded at the level being requested. More importantly, after a more detailed review of the photo materials presented as evidence of the Zcash Arabia community meetup in Algeria, I am confident that AI-generated or manipulated images were used by the Zcash Arabia account. I consider this unacceptable. Presenting generated or manipulated images as evidence of real-world community activity is a material misrepresentation to ZCG and to the community. For that reason, I support rejecting the current proposal. Speaking personally, I would also support disqualifying this applicant from further participation in the Zcash Community Grants application process, including barring them from submitting further grant proposals.
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Zerodartz: Maybe we could ask them to provide the originals to us privately so we can check if they were manipulated or not with AI. Maybe that’s the best way. Otherwise, I think this team has improved their activities which is good. I’m not ready to approve quite yet.
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Hanh: When you say manipulated, you mean totally generated or you mean like edited?
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Zerodartz: It could be edited, but yeah, they should mention it or provide privately the photos without manipulation so we can see that they did use AI just to cover the faces. They can cover the faces manually if they want to. It’s one option that would prove they didn’t do the AI edit on purpose. Right now it’s a reject from me.
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Artkor: For me personally I mean totally generated.
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Hanh: You should ask them. It’s like if you are a teacher and you have a student and you think that they cheated and use AI to write the essay, I think we need at least to give them a chance to prove otherwise, right? Because you want to give them a zero and fail them. Tthis may not be right. I think at the minimum it would be opening a dialogue and to understand what happened. I agree that there are some suspicious material though.
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Gguy: I’m not interested in seeing the originals, I’d like to approve this today.
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Paul: I will approve as well, I really do appreciate community work like this. The group has been receptive and responsive to us.
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Approved (Gguy, Paul, Hanh voted yes, ZD and Artkor voted no)
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Taking Zcash to the Streets: Education & Real-World Feedback in Türkiye
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Applicant proposes a 10-part Turkish Zcash YouTube education series published on the Crypto Epoch channel, followed by a 3-day Istanbul street interview campaign gauging crypto/Zcash awareness and directing interested participants to the series, with small Zcash-branded rewards for engagement. Requesting $6,955.
- Remains open
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Recoverify: Pre-Loss Backup Recovery Verification for Zcash Wallets
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Applicant proposes an open-source Rust CLI and local web UI that generates a non-secret Recovery Record from a working wallet, then later verifies a saved backup against that record — testing whether the backup reproduces all recovery-relevant state (accounts, addresses, derivation ranges, pool coverage) before the original wallet is lost, with classified results (Verified / Incomplete / Additional material required / Unable to verify / Verified empty). Requesting $2,990.
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Gguy: I have concerns about this one and about its usefulness and safety. I’ll be reviewing this one closely but I have my concerns.
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Remains open
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Zcash World, Mumbai (Devcon 8 week)
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Applicant proposes a multi-phase Devcon 8 week program anchored by a one-day fully shielded ZEC environment (registration requires a wallet, Z-BAZAAR accepts only shielded ZEC, 250–300 wallet onboards, live device benchmarking on entry-level Android hardware), followed by merchant onboarding of 20 Mumbai businesses during Devcon week, ecosystem engagement on the Devcon floor, and content capture throughout — with the benchmarking dataset released open-licensed and an after-movie published within 72 hours. Requesting $20,300.
- Remains open
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Zcash Privacy Literacy Lab Canada
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Applicant proposes a free, account-free web learning module with 12 interactive privacy scenarios (transparent vs. shielded transfers, viewing keys, selective disclosure, exchange touchpoints, metadata limits), a Rust scenario generator using real Zcash libraries on regtest/testnet, and a dated Canadian regulatory source map (30+ records covering recordkeeping, reporting, and consumer protection) — with independent technical and Canadian legal review, public correction log, and MIT/MIT-compatible licensing. Requesting $15,000.
- Remains open
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Additional Discussion
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State of Zaino (Gguy): ZCG is at a bit of a crossroads right now looking at what software and development needs to be funded in the coming months and years. ZCG is assessing how Zaino fits into that ecosystem. We are aware that the ecosystem is moving very fast and there are lots of alternative projects being released and deployed even in critical infrastructure environments. ZCG will review current software development funding and which infrastructure and projects do not have a current user or provide a value beyond what’s already available. What specific features does Zaino provide to end users that current projects don’t already provide? How can we maximize the impact of development teams? When necessary this might require us to rethink or pivot projects and teams. ZCG will be reaching out to teams to find out the use cases and usefulness of projects like Zaino. Does anyone else have anything to add?
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Hanh: They have requested milestone 3 so making a decision is upcoming. I think we’ve established was about having the product ready, audited and reviewed
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Gguy: Part of my concerns are around the last 3-month grant that is meant to be focused on the stabilization of Zaino. It appears that rather than moving towards a stable, reliable product that is trusted across the ecosystem, the product is actually going to go through a significant refactor. Traditionally that’s a significant move away from stabilization into something that’s more experimental and changing. If ZCG is going to fund this type of innovation and work I think we need a better understanding of what the use cases are and who benefits from this work. Who’s going to find this implementation useful and who’s going to want to deploy it?
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Hanh: Concretely, what is the decision of the committee regarding the payment of this milestone? FPF is waiting for approval for the payout. We have zero thumbs up so far.
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Gguy: I’m going to be reviewing the current milestone, I’m very aware that it doesn’t meet the criteria set by the milestone as stated. But I also appreciate that the team has made improvements from a month ago. So, I appreciate the work that they’ve done. We just need to check we are accelerating in the right direction.
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Hanh: This is the last one approved.
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Gguy: Yes, Zaino has no funding agreement in place after the milestone 3 payment is made. ZCG is aware that ZingoLabs may submit an application for more funding for the ongoing development of Zaino. It’s my understanding that Zallet has a hard dependency on Zaino. Let’s discuss with these teams and work out why we are building this. What the actual use case for these products and where does it differ and provide value over the alternatives.
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Hanh: I think for the sake of the Zaino team this conversation should be done sooner than later because they are on the premise that they are going to be approved and they are working as business as usual. So their management hasn’t told them that there’s a good chance they are not getting funded. So that would not be very fair. I mean, I’ve been in their position and this it’s not a good position to be in.
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