Zcash Co-Founder Proposes Ending $125M Community Grants Funding Stream

Zcash co-founder Sean Bowe has proposed ending the automatic funding stream to Zcash Community Grants (ZCG), arguing the program's treasury is large enough to sustain operations without further automatic payments. ZCG holds over $125 million in assets, including 91,453 ZEC (worth roughly $111 million) and $8.8 million in cash, with $2.4 million in outstanding grant commitments Source: Cointelegraph.

The Proposal

Bowe's draft ZIP would redirect ZCG's 8% share of the Zcash (ZEC) block subsidy to the network's sustainability reserve, while leaving existing funds untouched Source: CoinDesk. The redirected allocation would flow to the Network Sustainability Mechanism until the current funding period ends in 2028, designed to hold ZEC out of circulation and gradually reissue it through future block rewards Source: Cointelegraph.

Reactions and Context

In September, Haseeb Qureshi, managing partner at crypto venture capital firm Dragonfly, proposed ending the Zcash developer fund when its current funding period expires, warning it risks being "politicized" as it approaches $100 million in value Source: Cointelegraph. Bowe's proposal preserves the larger 12% allocation that is subject to quarterly coinholder votes, arguing that continuing to pile funds into ZCG's separate custody and governance arrangements adds risk when the program already has substantial reserves Source: CoinDesk.

Key Points

• ZCG's dashboard listed 91,453 ZEC and $8.8 million in cash as of Wednesday Source: Cointelegraph.
• The network's separate development lockbox held 72,351 ZEC, worth roughly $89 million Source: Cointelegraph.
• Bowe's calculation puts ZCG assets after outstanding grant commitments at about $125 million, using an illustrative ZEC price of $1,300 Source: CoinDesk.