Zcash Co-Founder Proposes Halting Automatic Community Grants Funding, Says Program Holds Over $125M

Odaily Report: Zcash co-founder Sean Bowe has submitted a proposal to stop the automatic allocation of block rewards to the Zcash Community Grants (ZCG) program and redirect the remaining 8% of block rewards originally allocated to the program to the Network Sustainability Mechanism (NSM). He stated that ZCG currently holds over $125 million in funds and will receive several million more before the funding inflow stops, and that the existing grants program was not designed to manage funds of this scale.

According to the draft proposal, ZCG holds 91,452.98 ZEC and approximately $8.8 million in USD-denominated assets, with $2.4 million in outstanding grant commitments. Bowe noted that the current 8% allocation mechanism generates over $68 million worth of ZEC per year, while the Financial Privacy Foundation disclosed that ZCG's spending in the first quarter of 2026 was only $1.53 million. If the proposal is approved, the original allocation percentage will be redirected to the NSM, and the total Zcash issuance will not increase. Meanwhile, the separate 12% of block rewards allocated to the Coinholder-Controlled Fund will remain unchanged. ZCG will still be able to retain and manage its existing assets, continue approving grants, and fulfill outstanding commitments.

The proposal has not yet specified an activation block height and has not been included in the currently planned NU7 network upgrade; it would require a future network upgrade to take effect. (The Block)