Below please find the latest ZCG meeting minutes and Public Dashboard link.
Attendance:
- Amber
- Brian
- GGuy
- Jason
- Michael
- Jack (ZF resource)
- Daniel (ZF resource)
- Deidra M (notetaker)
Key Takeaways:
- Open Grant Proposals
- Bird Calls - This grant proposal was removed from being on “hold” and ultimately rejected.
- Brainstorm Session Follow-Ups
- Zingo! - The committee discussed whether or not to shift monies & milestones around for the Zingo team.
- Ecosystem Security Lead - ZCG is in talks with two other organizations that can take on Taylor’s role, as this is his last month.
- Beth - Her trial period has ended and now needs to be renegotiated.
- Ledger - The committee discussed what their options are and how to proceed.
- Other
- Treasury management (Dodger) - Jack asked ZCG for their input on how to manage the likely surplus of US dollars in the treasury.
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. At the 05/29 meeting, the committee voted to put Birdcalls on “hold.”.
- After approving this grant’s first/research phase and placing the second/action phase on hold, the committee discussed this proposal again during their brainstorm session and decided to remove Bird Calls from being on “hold.”
- During the meeting, ZCG voted to reject this proposal due to the current treasury. ZCG will encourage this applicant to reapply at a later date in their messaging to that team.
Brainstorm Session Follow-Ups
-
Zingo!
- Zancas messaged the committee about getting access to the funds early from 2 of their uncompleted milestones to pay his 10-person team because they needed to pivot in response to mitigating sandblasts and improving code to improve sync time. GGuy asked him for more information, and he responded with more details.
- Amber said that she empathized with having something take longer than expected within engineering development and then it takes all your effort just to stand still. Amber also added that this ask is not unlike Nighthawk’s retroactive grant request. Lastly, she stated that when ZCG decides to fund apps like Zingo and Nighthawk, expecting an app to be a “one and done” kind of grant may not be realistic.
- Jason asked for clarification on which of Nighthawk’s requests she was referring to and added that he felt Zancas asking for early milestone funds was different from a retroactive grant. She agreed and said she could see reasons to vote both ways.
- Brian agreed with Amber that this request is challenging but voted to approve shifting the money in support of their pivoting to mitigate the sandblast and completion of other described work in lieu of completing the finsight milestone, which was initially agreed upon if this ask is within the wallet cap of $350,000 set by ZCG. Brian also said he is still trying to determine what this means for the other milestones.
- Michael said that Zingo is one of the top wallets in the Zcash community; however, he also feels that ZCG should set a standard that grantees deliver results that they have committed to.
- GGuy said he encouraged pivoting, and by his understanding, this ask is not giving more money but changing priorities, and he voted to approve.
- Jason agreed with Brian’s reasoning and added that if getting Zancas the funds earlier than expected makes him and his team more productive in getting things done, then ZCG should approve this. Jason also agreed with Michael that ZCG should not be lax with milestones, but said it’s different in this situation because it falls within the annual budget allocated to wallet grants. He voted to approve this ask.
- In a 3-1-1 vote, the committee approved this request. GGuy will reach out to Zancas privately with this decision and have him adjust that milestone to document what his team has already accomplished. Dan will open this grant for editing so that Zancas can change Milestone 2 and ask for the payout. Once approved, Zancas must edit Milestone 3 to include items from Milestone 2.
- Brian added that Zancas stated his openness to include FROST in the wallet but wants to caution him because FROST may not be ready yet, and to focus on his current milestones instead. GGuy will include this in his correspondence with Zancas.
- Jack said ZF will hold a community call later this week to introduce FROST to the wallet community. He also added that the FROST-for-Zcash ZIP has yet to be finalized.
-
Ecosystem Security Lead
- Taylor is leaving this month and will have an exit meeting with the committee later.
- Brian posted an RFP for this position because the committee finds this a high priority. ZCG has already met with Least Authority, and it went very well. Liz, from Least Authority, responded on the forum and said she is interested and will send a proposal this week.
- The committee also has a call scheduled for Friday with Thesis Defense.
-
Beth
- Beth is the ZCG Outreach Coordinator and has finished her 3-month trial period on September 30. Currently, her contract has yet to be extended. ZCG scheduled a call with her on Wednesday to discuss her role, which is different from what was initially expected but does align with her past responsibilities, including her relationships with mining pools.
- Overall, the committee is happy with her work in the past three months. Assessing whether she has added value to ZCG is hard to say given the nature of outreach work and relationship building; it may take months to see the impact it has. She has been developing new relationships with new companies, which is great.
-
Ledger
- Jason posted on the forum a statement from ZCG that summarizes where things stand with Ledger so that the community is up to date.
- Brian said that he understood and agreed with Jason’s post. He also said that he was unsure about the idea of reaching out to other organizations and said he saw that Zooko responded to that thread but is not sure if any organizations can take over Hanh’s work, specifically. Brian said moving forward with Zondax would be the most efficient way for Ledger to be satisfied with this proposal. Lastly, he said he was disappointed that it did not work out with Hanh, as the ZF community trusted and supported Hanh’s past work and wished Ledger’s blockchain-based organization requirement was clearer upfront.
- Jason said he would like to have a follow-up call with Ledger, Jack, and the committee soon to inform Ledger that ZCG will not be moving forward with Hahn, and to let them know what ZCG’s plans are. He also said that the committee should meet with Zondax to understand whether they are willing to use some of Hanh’s code, which has been audited by Taylor. Jason also said that, apart from engaging with Zondax, the committee should actively reach out to companies like Equilibrium and Chainsafe to see if they’re able to take over this project and support it long-term. All options should be explored so we can deliver this app to the community in a timely manner.
- Jack reminded the committee that Zondax has a functioning Ledger app that supports transparent and Sapling transactions, and circled back to why Zondax had proposed productionizing their fork of the Zecwallet Lite wallet, which was because there needed to be a compatible wallet for Ledger to test the new app being submitted but attempts to partner with both Zecwallet and Ywallet had been unsuccessful.
- Jason asked if Nighthawk could be used as a wallet, and Jack replied that it could not be an option because NH is a mobile wallet but we need a desktop wallet for Ledger to test with.
- Jack emphasized that the most significant win from a Leger integration would be support for shielded ZEC in Ledger Live, and for the committee to be very aware of all the requirements and the integration’s limitations, such as the risk that it may not be possible to add support for Orchard into Ledger Live due to licensing conflicts.
- Jason said that he has a proposal inspired by a conversation he had with Dan:
- Because ZF has a history of working with Zondax and funding previous Ledger work, would ZF be willing to serve as a “project manager” for this project and manage the relationship since they are better suited than ZCG, and then split the cost 50/50 with ZCG? One reason is that ZCG has already funded Hanh’s work, but Ledger may not utilize his code.
- Jack replied that ZF has already worked with and funded all of Zondax’s work to date, which resulted in a Ledger app that could not be submitted because it had no wallet integration.
- Jason gave several reasons why ZCG chose to go with Hanh instead of Zondax; however, no one anticipated Ledger wouldn’t accept Hanh’s app submission.
- Brian agreed with Jason and added that whatever needed to be done to move this project forward, he favors it because the community wants and needs hardware wallet support.
- Because ZF has a history of working with Zondax and funding previous Ledger work, would ZF be willing to serve as a “project manager” for this project and manage the relationship since they are better suited than ZCG, and then split the cost 50/50 with ZCG? One reason is that ZCG has already funded Hanh’s work, but Ledger may not utilize his code.
- Jack suggested that ZCG’s best next step is to meet with Zondax and discuss the situation with them. He also recommended that expectations and the scope of the project be crystal clear, as there has been a lot of miscommunication and misunderstanding to date. Once those expectations are made, Jack suggested discussing the proposed plan with Ledger and ensuring they agree.
- GGuy proposed that ZCG send a follow-up email to Ledger with a status update and await Ledger’s response before scheduling a call with them. The committee agreed.
- Jason asked Jack to contact Zondax to set up a meeting with ZCG and ZF. Jack said he would start an email thread to figure out a time that works for all.
- Jack reemphasized the benefits of Ledger Live integration and the importance of backward compatibility to ensure that people who currently hold ZEC on a Ledger device don’t lose their funds. He also reminded the committee that Ledger will require an audit by one of their two approved audit partners before they will accept an app submission.
- Due to Hanh’s recent post, Dan reminded everyone to ensure Hanh knows his part in this project is officially over. Jason said there is no harm in Hanh trying to find other entities to sponsor him, but that it also does not stop the committee from moving forward with the takeaways from tonight’s meeting. All available options should be explored.
Other
- Treasury management (Dodger)
- Jack informed the committee that the ZCG treasury is likely to have a surplus of US dollars soon due to upcoming milestone payouts. He asked ZCG whether they would prefer that ZF keep the USD or close out the hedge by buying back ZEC?
- ZCG expressed a preference to close out the hedge by buying back ZEC, and requested that ZF keep enough USD to hedge out the cost of the Global Ambassador Program for the rest of the year.