Today, the Foundation begins community sentiment collection regarding the 13 active Zcash Improvement Proposals that address development funding. This blog post contains a finalized poll of those ZIPs, along with relevant links. You can find more details on the Zcash Community Forum.

How to vote

With respect to each ZIP, you are asked this question: “Do you approve of the plan specified in this proposal?” The answer options are yes, no, or abstain. You can vote yes (or no, or abstain) on multiple proposals.

If you are an advisory panel member, you will receive Helios vote invitation via email.

If you are a Zcash Community Forum member with an account created before March, 2019, here is the polling thread.

Instructions for Zcash miners

We ask that miners add an OP_RETURN output to their Zcash coinbase transactions between Saturday, November 16 and Saturday, November 30 (we’ll consult the timestamps in the block header). The OP_RETURN should contains votes encoded in ASCII as below:

for each [proposal] { [proposal number] + [y for approve, n for disapprove, a for abstain]}

This is better illustrated with an example. Since there are 13 final polling questions, a voting miner could add a single OP_RETURN output in their coinbase transaction. Here is a random example ballot encoded in ASCII:

1Y2Y3N4N5Y6A7A8N9Y10N11N12Y13Y

Which would correspond to:

Proposal 1: Approve

Proposal 2: Approve

Proposal 3: Disapprove

Proposal 4: Disapprove

Proposal 5: Approve

Proposal 6: Abstain

Proposal 7: Abstain

Proposal 8: Disapprove

Proposal 9: Approve

Proposal 10: Disapprove

Proposal 11: Approve

Proposal 12: Approve

Proposal 13: Approve

Miners with questions about the process are welcome to email contact@zfnd.org.

Eligible ZIPs

The ZIPs are listed in chronological order, based on when each was initially posted on the Zcash Community Forum. Titles for each proposal were written by the respective authors.

We have provided high-level summaries of each proposal (as requested). Please do not view these summaries as replacements for the full proposals themselves. Each proposal contains nuances that should be considered when casting your vote.

Total percentage of block rewards allocated to dev fund: 0%

Mandated dev fund duration: 0 years

Percentage of block rewards to ECC: 0%

Percentage of block rewards to ZF: 0%

Percentage of block rewards to other developers: 0%

Requires new accountability mechanisms for ECC and/or ZF: No

Requires creation of a new entity to steward some or all funds: No

Requires changes to ZF board: No

Total percentage of block rewards allocated to dev fund: 0% default; more possible via donation

Mandated dev fund duration: 0 years; donations possible in perpetuity

Percentage of block rewards to ECC: 0% default; more possible via donation

Percentage of block rewards to ZF: 0% default; more possible via donation

Percentage of block rewards to other developers: 0% default; more possible via donation

Requires new accountability mechanisms for ECC and/or ZF: No

Requires creation of a new entity to steward some or all funds: No

Requires changes to ZF board: No

Total percentage of block rewards allocated to dev fund: 20%

Mandated dev fund duration: 4 years minimum

Percentage of block rewards to ECC: 10%

Percentage of block rewards to ZF: 10%

Percentage of block rewards to other developers: 0%

Requires new accountability mechanisms for ECC and/or ZF: Yes

Requires creation of a new entity to steward some or all funds: Yes after year 4 (voting entity)

Requires changes to ZF board: No

Total percentage of block rewards allocated to dev fund: 20% maximum

Mandated dev fund duration: 4 years

Percentage of block rewards to ECC: 20% maximum, based on miner signaling

Percentage of block rewards to ZF: 20% maximum, based on miner signaling

Percentage of block rewards to other developers: 20% maximum, based on miner signaling

Requires new accountability mechanisms for ECC and/or ZF: No

Requires creation of a new entity to steward some or all funds: No

Requires changes to ZF board: No

Total percentage of block rewards allocated to dev fund: 0%

Mandated dev fund duration: 0 years

Percentage of block rewards to ECC: 0%; more possible via donation

Percentage of block rewards to ZF: 0%; more possible via donation

Percentage of block rewards to other developers: 0%; more possible via donation

Requires new accountability mechanisms for ECC and/or ZF: No

Requires creation of a new entity to steward some or all funds: No

Requires changes to ZF board: No

Total percentage of block rewards allocated to dev fund: 10%

Mandated dev fund duration: 4 years with the option to extend

Percentage of block rewards to ECC: Undetermined, contingent on 2-of-3 agreement

Percentage of block rewards to ZF: Undetermined, contingent on 2-of-3 agreement

Percentage of block rewards to other developers: Undetermined, contingent on 2-of-3 agreement

Requires new accountability mechanisms for ECC and/or ZF: Yes

Requires creation of a new entity to steward some or all funds: Yes

Requires changes to ZF board: No

This ZIP addresses legal requirements for disbursement and does not specify other aspects of funding distribution.

Total percentage of block rewards allocated to dev fund: 20%

Mandated dev fund duration: 2 years

Percentage of block rewards to ECC: 20%

Percentage of block rewards to ZF: 0%

Percentage of block rewards to other developers: 0%

Requires new accountability mechanisms for ECC and/or ZF: No

Requires creation of a new entity to steward some or all funds: No

Requires changes to ZF board: No

Total percentage of block rewards allocated to dev fund: 20%

Mandated dev fund duration: 4 years

Percentage of block rewards to ECC: Undetermined, contingent on 5-person Strategic Council

Percentage of block rewards to ZF: Undetermined, contingent on 5-person Strategic Council

Percentage of block rewards to other developers: Undetermined, contingent on 5-person Strategic Council

Requires new accountability mechanisms for ECC and/or ZF: Yes

Requires creation of a new entity to steward some or all funds: Yes

Requires changes to ZF board: No

Total percentage of block rewards allocated to dev fund: 20%

Mandated dev fund duration: 4 years

Percentage of block rewards to ECC: 6%

Percentage of block rewards to ZF: 6%

Percentage of block rewards to other developers: 8%

Requires new accountability mechanisms for ECC and/or ZF: Yes

Requires creation of a new entity to steward some or all funds: Yes

Requires changes to ZF board: No

Total percentage of block rewards allocated to dev fund: 20%

Mandated dev fund duration: 4 years

Percentage of block rewards to ECC: 7% if Principal Developer

Percentage of block rewards to ZF: 5%, capped at $500k per month

Percentage of block rewards to other developers: 8%

Requires new accountability mechanisms for ECC and/or ZF: Yes

Requires creation of a new entity to steward some or all funds: No

Requires changes to ZF board: Yes

Total percentage of block rewards allocated to dev fund: 20%

Mandated dev fund duration: 4 years

Percentage of block rewards to ECC: 7%, capped at $700k per month

Percentage of block rewards to ZF: 5%, capped at $700k per month

Percentage of block rewards to other developers: 8%, capped at $700k per month; the funds are allotted to ECC if there are no other viable candidates

Requires new accountability mechanisms for ECC and/or ZF: Yes

Requires creation of a new entity to steward some or all funds: No

Requires changes to ZF board: Yes

Total percentage of block rewards allocated to dev fund: 20%

Mandated dev fund duration: 4 years

Percentage of block rewards to ECC: 10%

Percentage of block rewards to ZF: 10%

Percentage of block rewards to other developers: 0%

Requires new accountability mechanisms for ECC and/or ZF: No

Requires creation of a new entity to steward some or all funds: No

Requires changes to ZF board: No

Timeline recap

Polling will last from November 16th until November 30th. No later than Tuesday, December 3rd, the Foundation will post its summary of the results. No later than Friday, December 6th, the Zcash Foundation board will publish analysis on which upgrades we can support, based on sentiment and board discussion. After that, if the Foundation’s guidance diverges from ECC’s position, we will meet to reconcile. After reconciliation, if further ZIP specification or updates are needed, we will consult with authors/ECC and (if necessary) engage in another round of sentiment analysis.

Thanks to the proposal authors and community

We are deeply grateful for the community’s engagement with this process, and for the authors’ meticulous and thoughtful contributions. We are excited to begin the sentiment collection and look forward to sharing the results.