I would most likely approve this grant in full and fast-track it.
This project seems to pass my three non-negotiable rules:
- Net shielded-spending impact: ZGo is one of the very few tools that actually makes merchants accept Zcash privately today. Every shop that runs ZGo is a direct, daily increase in shielded spending.
- Proven team + low risk: Vergara Technologies already delivered ZGo once, on time and on budget, with previous ZCG funding. They are in the final phase and targeting a December release.
- Loyal long-term builders : This is exactly the kind of team we must keep supporting, they have been shipping for years and are now future-proofing their work for the Zebra transition.
The requested amount seems reasonable compared to the ecosystem value. Migrating to Zebra removes the single biggest risk to ZGo’s survival after zcashd is deprecated.
Since we are near December, setting milestones do not make much sense, I would rather include a clawback in case of delays.
This is the kind of infrastructure that makes private money actually used.