Zcash Community Grants Meeting Minutes 9/18/23

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)
  • Daniel (ZF resource)
  • Deidra M (notetaker)

Key Takeaways:

Open Grant Proposals

  • Bird Calls - Formally posted the second phase of the project, the integration phase, asking for $245,600 USD. They think it will take a significant amount of work to integrate BTCpay into Birdcalls. At the 05/29 meeting, the committee voted to put Birdcalls on “hold.”.

    • No change. The committee will leave this grant proposal as an open agenda item and revisit it in future meetings.

  • Ori: Alternative Full Node Implementation - Jason summarized this proposal. The applicant is offering to build a full-node implementation of Zcash. He posted the grant originally in July to the grants platform (but not to the forum) under the name ZZM but changed the name to Ori and then posted it to the forum in September.

    • Dan reached out to confirm what’s posted on the grants platform corresponds to the grant posted on the forum.
    • One concern ZCG had was the ask of $40,500 did not seem like enough to build and maintain a new node implementation given the amount of time and work involved.
    • Ultimately, ZCG voted to reject this and will ask him to reach out to the engineers in the Discord R&D, get their input on the grant and the cost associated with it, and then reapply. There seems to be a disconnect between this proposal and the required amount of work the committee thinks is required.

  • ToDeFi 2024: Conference Sponsorship - Jason gave background for this proposal. The applicant requests that ZCG sponsor the ToDeFi Conference in 2024, an annual conference held in Turin, Italy, focused on decentralized finance. The committee sponsored the 2023 event with other crypto projects (including Tezos) for $5,000.

    • Mike, Brian, Amber, and Jason participated virtually last year at this conference and other crypto projects that sponsored the event.
    • ZCG discussed this at the most recent brainstorm meeting, and given the price of ZEC and its impact on the treasury, ZCG will not be able to sponsor this event in 2024. The committee unanimously voted to reject this grant, but believe it might be a good fit for the Minor Grants program.
    • Dan reached out to the applicant to encourage him to apply for a minor grant, and apparently, he applied before the deadline.

  • DOCit: Fine-Tuned Discord Bot - Jason outlined this grant proposal. The applicant is asking for $8,000 to integrate doctIT, a private Discord and Telegram bot that supports multiple document sites with evolving LLMs. They say that their primary objective is to augment the Zcash DevRel and Community Support teams, respond to FAQs, and lessen the support hours on Discord and Telegram.

    • ZCG discussed this at their brainstorm session and didn’t think it fit the ZCG program well, so the committee unanimously voted to reject this grant.
    • Jason also posted to their thread on the forum to refer the applicant to the Minor Grants program when it opens again.

Brainstorm Session Follow-Ups

  • Ledger - ZCG had a call with a few Ledger team members. They discussed Hanh’s proposal and past Zondax projects.
    • Brian gave a summary of the Ledger call:
      • Ledger is very interested in supporting Zcash shielded transactions. They say there is persistent demand for Zcash support on Ledger devices and they would like to see progress made soon.
      • Ledger was unaware that ZCG and ZF are two distinct grant allocating bodies, but ZCG cleared up that two different teams have been working on Ledger integration.
      • Ledger is indifferent towards working with Hanh or Zondax. They noted their existing relationship with Zondax, spoke well of them, and reiterated Zondax’s experience with Ledger’s expectations and Ledger Live. Ledger wants ZCG to make the decision regarding who submits the app.
      • High-level discussion on Ledger’s concerns they had with Hanh’s proposal.
        • Ledger doesn’t care who submits the application, but believe it’s better for a blockchain-based organization to submit because an org is better suited to provide long-term support for the app.
        • One option is for ZCG or ZF to co-apply with Hanh to serve as a backing organization that could potentially provide funding for support if Hanh was to stop supporting the app.
        • Ledger also voiced that the developers behind the application should be KYC’d, which is not an issue as Hanh is already a grant recipient.
        • Ledger wants to ensure a long-term agreement for supporting and maintaining the app.
      • Other requirements Ledger noted: the app must be user-friendly, Ledger Live compatible with shielded Zcash transactions, and the app should also be able to be used by third parties and YWallet.
    • The committee had a follow-up call with Hanh to discuss these asks/requirements. Brian gave a summary of that call:
      • Most concerns were addressable by Hanh aside from some technical concerns like Ledgerlive and shielded Zcash.
      • Hanh has some questions about the integration with Ledger Live, specifically related to sync capabilities and the design parameters.
      • The next step is to have a call with Hanh, the Ledger team, and ZCG to discuss all concerns from both parties and next steps.
    • Jason emphasized that Hanh being an individual developer is not a dealbreaker for Ledger. Ledger’s concern is that if Hanh stops supporting the app, there is still an organization that can provide funding or find another developer who can support and maintain the app. This is ZCG’s role. The best path forward would be for ZCG (or ZF) to co-apply with Hanh, if possible.
    • Alex said that ZCG is a committee under ZF and doesn’t have the ability to enter into agreements on its own. He asked what sort of commitment was discussed with Ledger. Jason and Brian said that they would have a better idea once they receive the application from Ledger and will follow up with ZF on next steps.
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