In 2016, Electric Coin Co. and a team of independent scientists and cryptographers launched Zcash. Today, contributors from all over the world support the protocol’s development and the greater Zcash ecosystem. Through community funding and thoughtful governance, Zcash is becoming more decentralized and growing stronger in the process.
As the ecosystem grows, and as more and more funding becomes available, Zcash becomes more decentralized, community priorities become more diverse, and the technology gets stronger.
Funding development
Three organizations receive issuance from a Zcash development fund, which totals 20 percent of mining rewards. The other 80 percent of Zcash issuance is distributed to miners.
8%
of total
issuance
(~ 40% of the dev fund)
Zcash Open Major Grants 
The ZOMG distributes funding to independent, third-party developers for their work on Zcash-related projects.
7%
of total
issuance
(~ 35% of the dev fund)
Electric Coin Co.
ECC, a subsidiary of nonprofit Bootstrap Project, launched Zcash in 2016 and continues to support it through R&D, engineering, regulatory relations, adoption and demand generation.
5%
of total
issuance
(~ 25% of the dev fund)
Zcash Foundation
The Zcash Foundation is a 501(c)(3) public charity that builds financial privacy infrastructure for the public good, primarily serving the users of the Zcash protocol and blockchain.
In addition to the Zcash dev fund, community platforms and initiatives, like Gitcoin Grants, provide incentive for developers and teams to fix bugs, increase efficiency, improve UX, pitch ideas, and build out applications.
Read more about the formation of the dev fund.
Protocol governance
Three organizations receive issuance from a Zcash development fund, which totals 20 percent of mining rewards. The other 80 percent of Zcash issuance is distributed to miners.
In November 2019, Electric Coin Co. donated the Zcash trademark to the Zcash Foundation under an agreement that stipulates both parties must agree on any network upgrade that would create a new consensus protocol of Zcash. Zcash governance depends on community input. The trademark agreement prevents either party from taking action that is blatantly contrary to the clear consensus of the Zcash community. "Clear consensus" is determined through community polling within and outside of the Community Advisory Panel, a group of ~90 volunteers with extensive interest and/or knowledge of the Zcash ecosystem. On-chain voting and coin-holder voting has been discussed for future consensus-gathering mechanisms.
Read more about the trademark agreement.
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