Cross-posted from the Zcash Foundation general listserv.
Hello everyone! In case you haven’t met me yet, my name is Sonya Mann. I’m the Zcash Foundation’s third employee and new Communications Manager.
I’ll be the person writing and sending these updates going forward. My apologies that this one is late — it was supposed to go out on Friday, but hopefully you wouldn’t have read your email until Monday anyway 
Aside from hiring me, here’s what the Zcash Foundation did in May:
Grants Program
We continued to spread the word of our Grants Program, which had an initial deadline of May 18. Ultimately we received 41 pre-proposals (roughly 10 more than last year). So far, 22 applicants have been invited to submit full proposals.
Updates on the last round of grant projects are due in June. We’ve reminded the recipients, and hope to see a handful of their faces at Zcon0. Speaking of which…
Zcon0
Planning and promotion for our first conference, which takes place in late June, are ongoing. There is a list of confirmed speakers, but we’re still nailing down the exact agenda. Merchandise orders have either gone out or will be going out this week.
Governance
We are doing direct outreach to increase participation in our Community Governance Panel (which Executive Director Josh Cincinnati blogged about in April). Currently there are 54 participants on the list.
Nine people have self-nominated to join the Foundation’s Board of Directors, as you can see on GitHub.
The current deadline for ballot proposals is June 8. At least one of them will address the question of ASIC mining. On that subject…
ASIC Debate
On May 8 the Foundation released a statement on ASIC resistance, in light of Bitmain’s new Equihash-oriented ASIC miner. How to approach ASIC resistance, or whether resistance is worthwhile at all, has generated a great deal of contentious discussion. You can get a taste on the forum.
The Foundation has already contracted researchers to search for evidence of Zcash stealth mining. Expect an update on their findings sometime soon.
Miscellaneous
The Foundation is actively recruiting for technical hires, and we have a couple of excellent candidates in the pipeline. Our current expectation is that we’ll move forward with offers after Zcon0.
On May 26 the Foundation organized a low-key gathering in the SF Bay Area, in partnership with community member @hloo.akr
The End
That’s all, folks! Feedback on the format and contents of these monthly updates is very welcome. Would you like more details? Less? Let me know!
