Zephyr reactivation - we need YOUR help

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1

Zephyr reactivation - we need YOUR help

:wave::wave::wave:

For over a year we’ve been working on creating a web-wallet (MetaMask style) for Zcash. Along our journey we made good progress with porting Sapling code to WASM, running it in browser and Node, using gRPC over HTTPS, running in browser-extension sandbox to name a few.

However, our progress was slowed down as we encountered some more complicated parts of the protocol (namely NU5 Orchard upgrade). Additional impedance was caused by the ongoing DDoS on Zcash network which was making development harder for us. It made even simple operations like blockchain sync take hours instead of minutes.

Eventually, as we slowed down grinding on those challenges our rate of progress was deemed unsatisfactory by ZCG and our project was cancelled. However, despite this setback we still see recognize the potential and importance of a web-wallet in Zcash ecosystem.

To make things right, we’d like to ask the community for help with extending our team. We’d like to regroup with some new members, new energy and complimentary set of skills, so that together we can reapply for the grant and continue development of the Zephyr wallet.

We would be happy to work together with Rust developers who can help with the understanding of the NU5 upgrades and some other technicalities of the Zcash network and its algorithms.

ps. here are some forum links to our previous project updates

Project update with UI concepts shown
Project update with more technical details

11 Likes
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I really want this. Can we put it in the ZUU? Maybe @zancas or @hanh can help.

2 Likes
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I support reactivation of project Zephyr. The need to having a browser based zcash service is important to ecosystem growth.
However, I would like to see stronger community participation in the forums, workshops, writing new materials. I would like to see active participation in the zcash community @little.slingshot.

Thanks , good luck!

1 Like
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Having a privacy preserving browser wallet is extremely important. Especially as Zcash moves towards adding shielded assets.

I also want to say that we shouldn’t get discouraged by the doubts that are brought up regarding the feasibility of implementing a privacy preserving wallet in webassembly.

I managed to build one for Monero based on the current monero javascript library (which has some shortcomings, but it was possible anyway). Here is a video that explains the functionality:

And here is a short article that explains the concept and why we need to have a privacy preserving browser wallet.

The clubcards feature is basically an RSS reader on the newtab page of the browser. In my mind the perfect browser wallet is privacy preserving and gives the user the power back over their content consumption.

In the same way we carry membership cards (for the gym, the yoga club, etc) in our physical wallet, digital wallets should offer the same option.

The other benefit is that we can clean the user experience entirely from having to copy addresses. People can just pay with one click.

The other benefit is that we can programmatically hand over the transaction proof to the backend and the backend can run in a server less environment like nextjs which is much easier to host.

There is no need for a merchant to run a wallet on a server, that needs to sync perfectly all the time anymore, because the relevant transactions will be provided by the wallet of the payee at the time of payment.

That is why a browser wallet is the crucial step to drastically lower the barrier to entry for merchant adoption as well as improving payee UX.

Also keep in mind that the minaprotocol already has a browser wallet. (which makes the same privacy damaging mistakes as metamask, as well as charging per subaddress. So it is not really a good example, but it is still a sign that the competition is proceeding and that we need to catch up.)

I personally think that the Zcash and Monero community have the most credibility when it comes to real world usage and advancing cutting edge research. But we need to keep up with the times regarding user experience and that means we need to have a browser wallet.

So I hope this grant is restarted and I wish the Zephyr team all the best and hope you are successful!

5 Likes
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This is one of the more difficult and more important problems in Zcash. So, we should be patient on it and willing to invest.

2 Likes