Hi everyone,
I’ve submitted a ZCG proposal for a project called Zonp, and I’d really appreciate feedback from the community.
Steve Jobs understood that in order to sell products that might seem “technically complex,” they had to be simple and intuitive to use. That idea has influenced how I think about Zonp.
Zonp is a wallet-native commerce system built on Zcash. The goal is to extend shielded transactions beyond simple payments by enabling structured, private economic interactions—orders, invoices, receipts, and messaging—using memo fields.
Instead of transactions simply moving value, Zonp treats them as complete economic events.
Current State
This isn’t just a concept—I’ve built a working prototype and validated it on Zcash mainnet.
Right now, the system includes:
-
Structured memo encoding for orders, invoices, and receipts
-
Multi-memo handling for larger payloads
-
Encrypted messaging between buyer and seller
-
QR-based interaction flows
-
IPFS-hosted storefronts (merchants can generate storefronts with a push of a button)
-
A verifiable, transaction-linked reputation system
The core idea has already been proven:
Zcash can support real commerce workflows at the transaction layer today.
What the Grant Focuses On
The main focus of the grant is security and production readiness.
Specifically:
-
Moving from a trust-on-first-use (TOFU) model
-
To a “verify → trust” model using transaction-linked cryptographic authentication
This includes:
-
Signing structured memo payloads
-
Verifying all interactions before processing
-
Preventing spoofed or unauthorized actions
Without this upgrade, the system could be abused if a malicious actor reverse-engineered Zonp memo formats. This grant is focused on making the system safe for real-world merchant usage at scale.
Why I’m Building This
Zcash has been on my radar since the Zerocoin/Zerocash era.
Early on, PayPal aimed to challenge traditional payment systems, but ultimately evolved into a more conventional financial intermediary. It succeeded largely because it made transactions easy.
Zonp aims for something different:
A wallet-native commerce system where payments, storefronts, and interactions all exist within a private, decentralized environment.
With Zonp:
-
A farmer can sell goods locally using QR-based payments
-
A creator can publish a storefront via QR codes on IPFS
-
A nonprofit can receive donations directly
All coordinated through private Zcash transactions.
Zcash solves private payments—but I think the bigger opportunity is:
Private economic coordination
If transactions can carry structured, authenticated data, then Zcash can support:
-
commerce
-
marketplaces
-
services
-
peer-to-peer business interactions
All without exposing sensitive information.
Where I’d Appreciate Feedback
I’m especially interested in feedback from people working on wallets, infrastructure, or protocol-adjacent tools.
If you’re willing, I’d really appreciate input on:
-
Does this approach to transaction-linked authentication make sense within the Zcash model?
-
Are there security concerns or attack surfaces I may be overlooking?
-
From a usability perspective, what would make this viable for real merchants and users?
-
Should this move toward standardization, or is it better to iterate within a single implementation first?
-
More broadly: does this direction make sense for Zcash as an ecosystem?
I’m aware that some components (like the reputation system) rely on backend services, which introduces tradeoffs compared to a fully decentralized model. I’d appreciate thoughts on whether that balance is reasonable.
Additional Context
-
API (in progress): https://api.zonp.app/
I’m open to any feedback—technical, critical, or otherwise.
Appreciate anyone taking the time to read and respond.
Thanks,
Mike