Zcash Funding Bloc : A Dev Fund Proposal from Josh at ECC

[joshs]

@GGuy

My understanding has always been that the developer fund’s inclusion in the protocol rules protects entities from each other’s legal troubles. For instance, under a direct funding mechanism, if the Zcash Foundation (ZF) encounters legal issues, it doesn’t necessarily mean ECC will face the same issues.

This has been proven to not be the case. Both are currently facing the same regulatory issues.

@GGuy

However, if ECC approves a transaction to fund ZF and it can be argued that ECC was aware of ZF’s intended actions, would ECC then also be implicated?

I’m not sure why this would trigger anything. All key signings would be public and not concurrent, meaning everyone would know how and when a member signed for a given action.

@GGuy

My understanding as a non-US citizen was that the best protection in the US is code because it’s protected as free speech. Is it in our best interests to move to a key-based approach that doesn’t offer those same protections?

The cleanest approach is to let the dev fund expire in November. Full stop.

Any other approach has regulatory implications, which should be assessed. While ECC will get legal and regulatory advice on the grants approach, I recommend that any new dev fund proposal be reviewed in light of the current regulatory climate.