Zcash Governance
This page provides information about upcoming Zcash polls, including both protocol governance polls used to gauge community and coinholder sentiment and coinholder-directed funding, used to allocate grants.
Governance Overview
Zcash governance has evolved significantly over the years, moving from a relatively centralized model toward a broader, more decentralized process. Today, it is useful to distinguish between two related but separate functions: determining support for changes to the Zcash protocol and deciding how ecosystem funding is allocated.
- Protocol Governance: Changes to Zcash are developed and discussed openly through the ZIP process, with community panels and coinholders helping gauge support for proposed upgrades. These are polls, not binding votes. Zcash has no onchain governance mechanism that automatically determines which changes are adopted. Instead, polling provides input into a broader rough-consensus process, with changes ultimately taking effect when network participants choose to adopt the software.
- Funding: Zcash currently allocates 20% of block rewards to ecosystem development. Of this, 8% goes to Zcash Community Grants (ZCG) and 12% goes to the Coinholder-Directed Retroactive Grants Program, which allows ZEC holders to decide which grant proposals should receive funding. We provide information below on how to participate in the coinholder grants program.
Upcoming Polls
NU7 Governance Poll
Protocol Governance
The upcoming NU7 polls will help gauge community and coinholder sentiment on unresolved questions related to the scope and design of NU7.
Coinholders
- Snapshot: August 24 at 19:00 UTC
- Poll opens: August 25
- Poll closes: September 14 at 19:00 UTC
- Supported voting wallets: Vizor and Zodl
ZCAP
- Poll opens: August 27
- Poll closes: September 14 at 19:00 UTC
- Eligible new members must join ZCAP by August 24 at 16:00 UTC to participate
Learn more:
NU7 Governance Poll
Q3 Coinholder-Directed Retroactive Grants
Funding
The Coinholder-Directed Retroactive Grants Program allows ZEC holders to decide which completed contributions to the Zcash ecosystem should receive retroactive funding.
- Public review period: August 17 – September 16
- Coinholder poll: September 17 – September 29
- Participants: ZEC coinholders
Learn more:
Q3 Coinholder-Directed Retroactive Grants Program
How to Participate
Coinholders
ZEC holders can participate directly in coinholder polls using supported wallets. Vizor and Zodl currently support Zcash coinholder voting.
Vizor:
https://vizor.cash/
Zodl:
https://zodl.com/
ZCAP
The Zcash Community Advisory Panel (ZCAP) is a group of community members polled by the Zcash Foundation to provide advisory input on Zcash governance. Membership is open to people who meet one or more eligibility criteria.
Learn about ZCAP and how to join
Other Community Panels
ZecHub and several regional Zcash communities also participate in governance polling. To learn more about these groups or get involved, visit ZecHub or inquire about regional communities on the Zcash Community Forum.