Zcash co-founder proposes ending grants subsidy, citing $125 million treasury

What happened

Zcash co-founder Sean Bowe submitted a proposal to end automatic funding for the Zcash Community Grants program and redirect its remaining 8% share of block subsidies to the Network Sustainability Mechanism. The proposal is awaiting approval and is not yet final.

Proposed

Global impact / market context

If approved, the change would shift 8% of new ZEC rewards away from grants toward a sustainability fund, reducing a funding stream that Bowe says far exceeds the program's roughly $1.53 million in quarterly expenses, which could change how builders fund projects.

Analyst inference

The debate centers on a treasury holding about 91,452.98 ZEC plus $8.8 million in dollar assets against $2.4 million in grant liabilities, while the 8% model could generate over $68 million in ZEC annually. That gap between funding and spending drives the proposal.

Analyst inference

What to watch

1. Watch whether the five-person committee elected by the Zcash community advances Bowe's draft proposal and whether the separate 12% allocation to the Coinholder-Controlled Fund stays unchanged. Confirmed
2. Bowe proposes turning off the ZCG funding stream and sending the remaining 8% allocation to the Network Sustainability Mechanism for the rest of the funding stream's term without raising Zcash's issued supply. Proposed
3. Watch how ZEC holders and builders react, because losing automatic grants could reduce project funding while freeing a large treasury, which may shift where developers seek money. Analyst inference

Evidence

• theblock.co