Hi everyone. I’ve decided to post my responses in writing since this format was suggested as an option.
My name is Palmar, and I’ve been an active member of the Zcash community since 2022. Since 2024, I’ve been running a Zcash Club in Mexico, where I teach people from scratch how to use wallets and help them understand why Zcash is essential for a healthy society. You can check my introductory post to learn more about me. I’ll now proceed with my answers:
1- Zooko: I think that the significant increase in the fund (in fiat terms) shouldn’t lead to a radical change in how the ZCG is managed. However, I agree that some adjustments can be made to keep pace with the growth.
In the chart you shared, we can see that in Q3 2025 the capital allocation was $0.53M, while in Q4 of the same year it rose to $2.32M. All of this happened under the same committee (same structure, members, and processes), which shows that what we currently have works, is flexible, and can adapt to increases or decreases in grant demand. The allocation grew more than 4x from one quarter to the next, and everything was handled smoothly and well within the capacity of the five committee members. While there may come a point when the workload exceeds the capacity of five people, what I’m trying to highlight is that the current growth has remained within a manageable range. It’s also important to remember that while the fund has grown in fiat terms, it can also shrink, so we must be prudent with projections.
If I were to propose an improvement, I would support Batuhan’s idea of separating the evaluator structure into two sides: one for technical matters and another for community matters. I would frame it as two wings:
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Protocol Wing (technical matters involving code deployment, software, development, etc.)
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Ecosystem Wing (everything non-technical: communities, events, marketing, education, etc.).
This would allow each wing to specialize. Regarding concerns about significantly increasing the number of committee members, we could consider adding just one more member (bringing the total to six), so each wing would have three evaluators. (Would that be too many or too few?)
This way, the technical wing would be freed from reviewing community, event, and marketing grants, allowing them to dedicate more time to thorough reviews of technical proposals for a more effective result. And if demand for technical grants increases even further, they would simply return to today’s workload, but now fully focused on technical grants. Something similar would happen with the Ecosystem Wing. When both wings coordinate well and do their jobs effectively, Zcash can soar even higher.
It’s crucial that the ZCG always leans toward appointing prominent community members who have demonstrated honesty, a strong track record, and the ability to help Zcash fulfill its mission. Ultimately, the amount of budget allocated each quarter will depend on the quantity and quality of the grant proposals received and approved. This responsibility falls on the judgment of the committee members, which is why it’s so important to elect people who understand Zcash in its full scope and are aligned with the project to make the best decisions. I believe the current committee meets this standard.
According to Zcash Grant Hub, technical grants outnumber non-technical ones, so this should be taken into consideration.
2- Dismad: The prolonged price decline and the inability to surpass Monero as the number one privacy cryptocurrency (despite Zcash offering superior privacy) has been a heavy burden we’ve carried for a long time. Personally, most of the attacks I received as a Zcasher came from these two points.
ZEC dropped to $20 amid public support from highly influential figures with significant capital — Naval, Balaji, Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, Grayscale, and even Snowden himself — and none of them managed to turn the tide. Having some of the best developers and cryptographers deliver Halo2 and Orchard wasn’t enough either. But all of that was necessary and laid the foundation we’re building on today.
Fortunately, today’s reality is completely different. At the time of writing, ZEC is at $437 USD, it remains in the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market cap (excluding USDT and USDC), and the market itself values it above Monero as the leading privacy coin. Something has changed, and it might feel like the dream has finally come true, but believing that would be falling into a trap.
The great opportunity Zcash has right now is to legitimately reclaim the original mission of cryptocurrencies that began with Bitcoin. Zcash was designed for this, and it has now gained enough attention and recognition to make that claim. Zcash can be seen both as an asset that will appreciate in value and is worth holding in a U.S. treasury, and as a powerful tool for financial security and privacy, for example, for a journalist in Mexico who is being persecuted and threatened by drug cartels or corrupt politicians.
Freelancers in Latam already use USDT to receive payments and buy products, but without privacy. So we must keep pushing until ordinary people in most corners of the world use Zcash and ZEC to buy a cookie, clothes, or pay their electricity bill. Every time someone sends or receives a Zcash transaction, they are exercising their human rights. If the community can align — each person from their own position — to position Zcash as a banner of freedom with the right arguments, we will win. The criteria used when approving or rejecting grants in the ZCG can help enormously in this regard.
3- frankbraun: Rather than changing, I thnik we need to further increase the decentralization of both the network and the community. I don’t see decentralization as an end in itself, but as a means to achieve censorship resistance, which is essential to fulfilling Zcash’s mission.
When Josh took over leadership at ECC, he took important steps, such as relinquishing the Zcash trademark agreement. However, I feel that momentum was later lost. I believe we should pick up that direction again, because Zcash must remain neutral and censorship-resistant to fulfill its purpose. That is extremely important.
Thanks to everyone for reading and considering my thoughts when voting.