Zcash Grants Committee Withdraws Plan for 98,000 ZEC
After sharp criticism, ZCG withdraws a proposal to shift 98,000 ZEC to mining rewards. That leaves the debate over Zcash funding and the role of the treasury open for now.
Key Takeaways
- Zcash Community Grants has withdrawn a plan to shift about 98,000 ZEC to future mining rewards.
- The committee says future funding should be decided through the usual governance process after sharp criticism from the community.
- ZCG will keep receiving about 144 ZEC per day for now until a network upgrade changes the rules.
Zcash’s grants committee has withdrawn a plan to shift about 98,000 ZEC to future mining rewards. The move follows sharp criticism from the community and leaves the debate over funding the privacy project open for now.
Plan Withdrawn After Criticism
Zcash Community Grants, or ZCG, said Tuesday that the October 29 proposal will not be developed any further. The committee wrote that future funding should be decided through the usual governance process. That removes a plan that had been put forward less than a week earlier, but which immediately drew a lot of resistance.
ZCG manages grants for developers and community projects without every allocation going through a coinholder vote. The committee receives 8% of all newly created ZEC, about 144 coins per day. Based on the available figures, the treasury has now grown large enough to fund years of work. That has long fueled questions from developers and ZEC holders about why money is still coming in.
What the Fight Is About
The withdrawn plan would have moved 36,200 ZEC from the treasury of about 91,500 ZEC to the Network Sustainability Mechanism. That reserve eventually tops up the block rewards of miners. It would also have lowered the expected inflow for ZCG through the 2028 halving from about 109,000 ZEC to 47,000 ZEC, with another reduction after that toward 2032.
The debate got sharper after a ZCG-funded outreach project, ZECsy, promoted private payments at an adult industry convention in New Jersey. Critics questioned the spending and the committee’s accountability. Supporters pointed out that sex workers often face banking restrictions and that financial privacy is especially relevant for groups like that.
What This Means for Zcash
The issue shows how sensitive the distribution of new ZEC is within the network. Zcash founder Sean Bowe had earlier proposed stopping the automatic 8% allocation to ZCG altogether. Other proposals are still on the table too, but none of them has been approved. ZCG will keep receiving about 144 ZEC per day for now until a network upgrade changes the rules.