Hi all! Here is our second monthly report for the Zcash Network School (Grant 266, May-July 2026). Thanks again for the support, and as always, happy to answer any questions.
Zcash Network School - Monthly Report #2 (June 2026)
Summary
June was the second month of Zcash Network School. Our office remained fully operational, the team is complete, all planned educational events were delivered, and we activated 27 new wallets with onboarding incentives distributed to each new user.
June was a special AI Month at Network School, also a quieter one. That changed the audience mix: fewer Web3-native participants, more residents who were new to crypto, and a different kind of onboarding challenge.
Beyond the planned scope, we participated in two additional events: the recurring NS Fair and our first cross-ecosystem event with Q Day: Preparing Crypto for the Quantum Era.
Q Day gave us a strong local opportunity to expose the Zcash brand to a mature audience interested in cryptography, AI risk, and long-term security. It also reinforces Network School’s position as the physical hub for blockchain activity in the region.
The team was also invited to represent Zcash in Kuala Lumpur at The Holy Trinity [NEAR x Zcash x Hyperliquid] event in July, expanding the program’s geographic presence beyond Network School and into another Web3 community in Malaysia.
The strongest operational progress this month was merchant adoption. We have already exceeded the original POS target, with 7 completed integrations against a 3-month target of 4.
In July we expect to accelerate wallet activations while increasing the quality and impact of the planned educational activities.
Deliverables Tracker - Milestone 2
| Deliverable (Milestone 2) | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2 educational events | ✅Complete | Privacy is Normal and ZKP 101 delivered in June. 62 registered, 27 attended in person. |
| 4 weekly office hours | ✅Complete | 4/4 delivered. 26 registered, 20 attended. Average attendance: 5 per session. |
| Continued onboarding + incentives | 🔄On Track | 27 new wallet activations in June, bringing cumulative activations to 63/100. |
| User interviews continued | 🔄On Track | 1 interview conducted in June, bringing the cumulative total to 4. Remaining interview batch planned for July. |
| POS support for businesses | ✅Exceeded | 7 completed integrations against a 3-month target of 4. 5 additional discussions in progress. |
| Community announcements in NS channels | 🔄On Track | Regular event and office-hour promotion continued through Network School channels. |
Office
The Zcash office remained operational throughout June.
Events
Target: 2/month - Delivered: 2 planned events + 2 additional events
| Event | Date | Venue | Registered | Attended |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Privacy is Normal | June 4, 2026 | NS Library | 32 | 19 |
| ZKP 101 | June 25, 2026 | NS Library | 30 | 8 |
| Totals | 62 | 27 |
Privacy is Normal continued to work as our entry-level event. It attracted 32 registrations and 19 in-person attendees, increasing in-person attendance compared with May.
ZKP 101, our intermediate-level event, had lower attendance in June after being the most demanded Zcash event in May. We are evaluating the reasons. Possible factors include the AI Month audience mix, fewer technical Web3-native participants, the late-month scheduling test, and token price dynamics affecting general attention.
Additional events and visibility
- NS Fair: continued Zcash presence in the recurring Network School fair format.
- Q Day: Preparing Crypto for the Quantum Era: exposed Zcash to a mature audience interested in quantum risk, AI, and cryptographic infrastructure.
- Kuala Lumpur invitation: the team was invited to represent Zcash in July at The Holy Trinity [NEAR x Zcash x Hyperliquid], extending the program beyond Network School into the broader Malaysia Web3 ecosystem.
Office Hours
Target: 4/month - Delivered: 4
| Session | Date | Registered | Attended |
|---|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | June 4 | 13 | 8 |
| Week 2 | June 11 | 6 | 4 |
| Week 3 | June 18 | 5 | 4 |
| Week 4 | June 25 | 2 | 4 |
| Totals | 26 | 20 |
Office hours changed in function during June. Learnings from May allowed us to complete more wallet onboarding during the educational events themselves, reducing the number of people who needed office hours only for basic wallet setup.
That shifted office hours toward a smaller and more advanced audience: residents who wanted to discuss Zcash news, technical questions, privacy tradeoffs, and merchant adoption.
We are evaluating a new format for July that better separates beginner onboarding from deeper ecosystem discussion, including a name change to the event.
Onboarding & Wallets
| Metric | May | June | Cumulative | 3-Month Target | Progress |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wallet activations | 36 | 27 | 63 | 100 | 63% |
June added 27 new wallet activations. This was lower than May, but still relevant given the quieter month and the fact that many long-term residents had already been onboarded during the first month. We need 37 additional wallet activations to reach the 100-wallet target by the end of the grant period.
POS & Merchant Adoption
3-Month Target: 4 businesses - June status: exceeded
| Stage | Count | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Completed integrations | 7 | Businesses accepting ZEC payments through completed integrations. |
| Discussions in progress | 5 | Additional merchant conversations and possible integrations. |
Merchant adoption was the strongest operational result in June. We have already exceeded the original target of 4 businesses accepting ZEC payments.
To speed up integrations, we introduced a new business incentive line: $20 in ZEC on activation, plus an ongoing competition with $50, $30, and $20 prizes for the first businesses to provide proof of a sale in ZEC.
This shifts POS work from passive acceptance to actual usage. The July priority is not only to increase the number of accepting businesses, but to generate verified transactions and better understand what makes a merchant continue accepting ZEC after the first setup.
User Interviews
3-Month Target: 10+ interviews
- Interviews conducted in June: 1
- Cumulative interviews: 4, including the 3 May test interviews
- Remaining target: at least 6 more interviews in July
We continued the interview track in June and intend to finish the planned batch in July, sharing our learnings.
Community Integration
The Zcash channel inside Network School’s Discord also became a useful continuity layer between events, adding 109 new members over the first two months of the project. This gives residents a persistent place to keep asking questions and stay connected.
We also started seeing Zcash stickers from the office appear on residents’ laptops around campus: Zcash becomes even more a part of the everyday visual environment at Network School, not only a topic during scheduled events.
The AI Month context gave us a less Web3-native audience than May, but that made the privacy education challenge more realistic.
Q Day gave us a strong bridge between Zcash and other ecosystems, as well as broader conversations around quantum risk and cryptographic infrastructure. Zcash’s work on long-term cryptographic resilience was also a relevant topic in the event.
The Kuala Lumpur invitation is relevant. It shows the project is not limited to one campus but can achieve regional relevance. We have concrete evidence of possible expansion into the Malaysia and Singapore Web3 ecosystem.
We were also visited by Jeremiah Rogers (@jeremiah), who is active in the broader ecosystem and on X. He mentioned the Zcash Network School publicly and gifted us a Lego decoration for the space.
We would be thrilled to receive other members of the Zcash Community here. If you are interested in visiting Network School and learning more about the environment, please reach out. We might help with discounted stays, and in future phases of the project we intend to provide scholarships for Zcash community members.
Team
| Member | Role |
|---|---|
| Andre Froes | Project Lead - education strategy, program design, event delivery, finance and reporting |
| James Joseph | Infrastructure and Technology - office hours, ZK lectures, supports operations, design |
| Adam | Intern - operations, onboarding support |
Spending
| Category | May | June | Cumulative | Budget (3-month) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team (compensation) | $3,400.00 | $3,400.00 | $6,800.00 | $10,200.00 |
| Office | $400.00 | $800.00 (June and July) | $1,200.00 | $1,200.00 |
| Supplies & materials | $413.75 | $0.00 | $413.75 | $1,400.00 |
| Incentives to users | $180.00 | $175.00 | $355.00 | $800.00 |
| Total from category breakdown | $4,393.75 | $4,375.00 | $8,768.75 | $13,600.00 |
Looking Ahead: July
- Deliver the final 2 planned educational events for Phase 1.
- Deliver 4 weekly office hours sessions.
- Activate at least 37 additional wallets to reach the 100-wallet target.
- Convert merchant integrations into verified ZEC transactions.
- Execute 6 user interviews and synthesize anonymized insights for publication.
- Participate in other NS and cross-ecosystem events, such as NS Fair and NS Showcase if recurring in July, and also represent Zcash in Kuala Lumpur if confirmed.
- Refine the office-hours format based on June attendance and audience quality.