Hello! As most of you already know from this thread, we are about to launch red·bridge! We’re very excited to have the participation of Shielded Labs, ZecHub, Zcash Brasil, and more as Zcash-aligned organizations who will be running a red·bridge guardian-validator node. In addition, numerous individuals have contacted us through the Zcash Global Discord server about running a node, and we will have a program set up for you soon. Stay tuned!
Our initial funding from ZCG was for building the bridging software, and we are nearing its completion. Now it’s time to launch, so new funding is required. We have about seven months of deliverables to complete in order to get the bridge to full functionality with revenue-generating ability. In addition, as you may know, we have launched a Swiss Verein called RBR Association in order to issue the RBR staking token and oversee the bridge, and still ahead on our financial ledger are related legal and compliance expenses. Finally, we are not approaching red·bridge as a “build it and they will cross” bridge. Like every other product, we have a go-to-market strategy to execute.
We have combined these elements into a new red·bridge launch grant request from ZCG. I believe we’re being about as frugal as possible with our request, having carefully budgeted what is necessary for the launch of a new special-purpose blockchain. As a bonus, we are offering to take on maintenance of a fork of the Webzjs and MetaMask Snap codebase. This software enables easy website integration with a Zcash wallet, and it is mission-critical for red·bridge operations, so it’s a good fit for us to maintain it. We have already addressed some important issues and will continue to do so as Zcash moves forward through NU 6.3, NU 7, and beyond.
Questions and comments are welcome. Onwards!