Zcash draft would redirect grant funding and allocate 50,000 ZEC to long-term network security

A new draft in an open debate

The debate over Zcash funding gained another proposal on October 30, 2026, when Zooko Wilcox presented a plan on the community forum. The associated document, authored by representatives of Tachyon Group and Shielded Labs, is marked as a draft and does not yet have an assigned ZIP number. Its existence documents a proposed change, rather than a network decision. The issue is how to allocate resources among current grants, future development, and long-term security while several competing approaches are under discussion.

In his presentation, Wilcox attributes the tensions to the sharp increase in the value of the Zcash Community Grants treasury, or ZCG. He also recalls the program’s historical role in supporting wallets and governance tools. His appeal to support the new document is an advocacy position. Forum responses include support and objections: they do not demonstrate an established consensus or completion of the community decision process.

Two separate destinations for resources

The draft would redirect the 8% block subsidy stream currently allocated to ZCG into a lockbox for development and legal defense. The change would take effect at the activation specified by the proposal for the remaining duration of the stream. Spending the lockbox balance would require a further proposal. Separately, the draft calls for a donation of 50,000 ZEC to the Network Sustainability Mechanism, or NSM, within 30 days of acceptance. That quantity should not be confused with a fixed dollar valuation.

The NSM and the new lockbox therefore serve different purposes. The former supports future rewards associated with network security; the latter would hold resources for spending defined later. The document states that no reference implementation is available yet. Its publication does not prove that the donation has occurred or funding flows have moved. Establishing an effective change would require evidence of acceptance, activation rules, and implementation.

A competing plan favors a gradual reduction

On October 29, ZCG presented a different idea, explicitly described as preliminary. The committee is considering gradually reducing funding, extending it through the 2032 halving, and redirecting some resources to the NSM. It discusses a conditional transfer of approximately 36,200 ZEC from its treasury, subject to community support. Those parameters belong to that approach: they cannot be added to the new draft’s figures as though they described one combined program.

ZCG’s proposal says it would preserve the 21 million ZEC cap and the halving schedule. Its projections for reserves and miners’ future income remain the authors’ estimates. At this stage, the new development is the public comparison of several funding architectures. The key evidence to follow will be the final selected text, community decisions, and proof of execution, rather than an isolated treasury valuation or the number of supportive messages.