Last Friday, the Zcash community elected five members out of nineteen candidates to the inaugural Major Grants Review Committee. The Zcash Foundation managed the election and 97.8% of the Zcash Community Advisory Panel participated in the vote. The Zcash community was well represented and we commend the Zcash Foundation for their leadership in stewarding the process.
The candidates represented diverse geographies, a range of experiences and all shared a commitment to grow the Zcash ecosystem. They answered crowd-sourced questions through the forum and in livestreamed discussions. Thank you to all of the candidates for participating in this process. We hope you’ll continue to stay active in the community.
While ECC’s candidate was not elected to the committee, DC has offered to serve as a liason to the MGRC in whatever capacity is helpful. During the campaign process, DC brought important considerations and thoughtful perspectives on what Zcash needs to flourish. You can read DC’s full statement here.
The Inaugural Major Grants Review Committee:
- Hudson Jameson has held leadership positions within the Ethereum community and the Ethereum Foundation. In his candidacy, he emphasized interoperability, privacy-focused initiatives and pragmatism.
- Sarah Jamie Lewis is the Executive Director of the Open Privacy Research Society, as a computer scientist, security engineer and privacy researcher. In her candidacy, she emphasized financial privacy, security audits, and working with marginalized communities to build better technology.
- Shawn (aka MineZcash) is one of the most active community members in the Zcash community. In his candidacy, he will act as the Zcash Foundation representative. He emphasized solving the “the last mile” problem and breaking down barriers to adoption.
- Chris Burniske is part of Placeholder VC and a long-term investor in ZEC. He will be supported by Mario Laul. Chris emphasized the need for a vision on the 100-year time scale and investing in UI, governance and emerging economies.
- Holmes Wilson is an internet activist and founder of the messaging app & Zcash wallet Zbay. Holmes emphasized the importance of FOSS and building tools that help people dismantle unaccountable power.
This committee will manage the Major Grants Fund. The Major Grants Fund activates with Canopy, the fifth major network upgrade for Zcash. The Major Grants Fund will receive 8% of mining rewards for the next four years. The remaining will be distributed to miners (80%), ECC (7%) and Zcash Foundation (5%). Major Grants are meant for independent, third-party developers in an effort to further decentralize Zcash-related efforts.
Welcome, MGRC! Here’s to the exciting road we have ahead.
