Zcash Shielded News | Vol.41
Shielded ZEC on Metamask, ECC Roadmap for 25/26 + Zcash Protocol Roadmap, ZCG Meeting Minutes July 21, NU6.1: Coinholder-Directed Retroactive Grants Program, The Climb: Zcash Update from ECC
Zcash Shielded News is a community article format based on the weekly Zcash Ecosystem Digest Newsletter.
Providing insight on current events and informing the community about important news in the Zcash ecosystem.
Check out the best Highlights below!
Without a doubt, this is one of the most anticipated announcements in the Zcash community in recent times! The integration of the Zcash Snap into MetaMask is now complete. In short, it’s a plugin that allows you to send and receive Shielded ZEC directly from MetaMask, a powerful and user-friendly privacy upgrade!
This initiative came to life through a grant proposal submitted by ChainSafe, which focused on developing support for ZEC, officially approved on August 5, 2024, after MetaMask Grants DAO matched it with $150,000 in funding.
Alongside this collaborative effort, ZCG also funded a feasibility study earlier in 2024 to explore how shielded ZEC could run without the need for a full node, using smart optimizations. That led to the approval of a grant to develop WebZjs, a browser-native Zcash library that played a crucial role in making all of this possible.
WebZjs is the SDK that powers the Snap and handles key functions like:
zk-SNARK proof generation
Support for Sapling and Orchard (Zcash privacy protocols)
Wallet sync via lightwalletd
Key and note management - all on the client side
The ChainSafe team also engaged directly with the community for testing, refining the user experience (UX), and fixing bugs along the way.
The result? For the first time ever, users can send and receive Shielded ZEC privately using the most popular web wallet in the world, without giving up control or usability.
Hats off to everyone involved, this is truly a milestone moment for both communities.
A few days ago, ECC published its roadmap, which is updated quarterly, along with its goals and timelines.
This information is extremely crucial for understanding what’s coming to the ecosystem from the team including developments in Zashi, network upgrades, Zcashd deprecation, PoW/PoS, and more from July through December 2025.
If you have experience or skills that could contribute to these developments, reach out to ECC to share your thoughts and strategies, they’d love to hear from you!
It’s also worth noting that the team will invite community developers twice a year to meet with them in order to help refine and adapt their plans for a better future.
Zcash Protocol Roadmap
Part of the proactive spirit of the Z ECC Summit event in early July was the creation of the Zcash Roadmap for the next 18 months. Together, the organizations present shared opinions, concerns, advice, and aligned on the future of protocol development.
This roadmap is extremely important, just like ECC’s above. Check it out.
A new proposal from Jason McGee suggests the Coinholder Grants Program use a retroactive funding model, where grants are awarded only for completed work. It aims to simplify the process, reduce overhead, and give ZEC holders direct control over funding. Grants will be paid in ZEC from a multisig wallet managed by ECC, ZF, and Shielded Labs.
While it reduces risk for the treasury, teams must self-fund their work upfront. A coinholder vote in August 2025 will decide whether to adopt the model before its planned launch. ECC supports the proposal. A name for the program is still TBD.
Zcash Community Grants has published its latest summary of the most recent committee meeting regarding the pending grant applications under review.
Attendance 👥
Jason (Did not attend, provided notes and voted async)
Alex (FPF resource, notetaker)
Open Grant Proposals 🔓
Centi and ZSAs (❌)
Centi Ltd requested $350K to integrate Zcash and launch a Swiss Franc–backed stablecoin. The ZCG rejected the proposal, citing concerns over centralization, lack of USD support, and misalignment with Zcash’s decentralized values.
Privacy Executive Roundtable (❌)
Iron Fish Foundation proposed a $51K, six-month virtual program to promote Zcash Shielded Assets by engaging executives from fintech, AI, and crypto companies. It included expert sessions, demos, micro-grants, and public content.
ZCG members rejected the grant, citing concerns over its high cost, remote format, and lack of fit with Zcash priorities.
Qedit: Legal & Compliance Risks (✅)
A grant request of $95,000 was made to hire legal experts to support compliance for the upcoming launch of Zcash Shielded Assets (ZSAs). The goal is to ensure the project aligns with legal standards amid growing regulatory scrutiny.
ZCG members approved the grant, acknowledging the importance of legal support at this stage, despite some concerns about timing and cost.
MFKDF2 is a multi-factor key management project aiming to improve wallet security and usability. The team requested $39K to finalize and audit it. ZCG members are generally supportive, but the vote is pending after a request for more discussion.
Shielded Integration for Cross-Chain Non-Custodial (❌)
A $48K grant was proposed to integrate ZEC into SolanaBlender and StealthXMR for private, non-custodial swaps with SOL and XMR. It was unanimously rejected due to low community interest and treasury concerns.
A $20K grant was proposed to support monthly crypto policy meetings and the DC Privacy Summit, focusing on privacy tech and regulation. ZCG noted it’s too early to vote, pending further discussion.
Brainstorming Follow-Ups 💡
Pacu / DevRel Engineer
ZCG is happy with Pacu’s performance as Ecosystem DevRel Engineer and is considering renewing his grant for another year, pending input from ECC, ZF, and the community.
Roman Storm Donation
ZCG reviewed using its budget to support Roman Storm but found it wasn’t allowed under ZIP 1015. Some members plan to donate personally and encourage others to do the same.
As Pogacar takes the Tour de France, Josh reflects on the grit behind great climbs - both on the bike and in building Zcash.
After struggling through an unplanned ascent of Mount Evans, Josh learned that preparation and teamwork turn suffering into strength. This week, he shared Zcash's first unified protocol roadmap (mentioned above), a Proof of Deep team alignment.
Now, like a Tour team chasing the summit, Zcash is climbing stronger, faster & together.
📲 | Zashi Updates
Progress Made:
Tor Protection: Tested and fixed all discovered issues; Android Alpha build was shared with beta testers. The production release is scheduled for next week, provided all goes well with iOS.,
Swap or Pay with NEAR: Implementing updates and additional requirements.
Upcoming:
Tor Protection: Fix all discovered issues on iOS, re-test, and qualify for release.,
Swap or Pay with NEAR: Continue implementing updates and additional requirements.
🍎 │ IOS Analytics:
📈Unique Installs: 8.96k (prev. 8.87k)
⬇️Total Downloads: 10.8k (prev. 10.7k)
⭐AppStore Rating: 4.9*
🤖 │ Android Analytics:
📈Total Install Base: 3.8k(prev. 3.83k)
⬇️Total Installs (incl. Open Beta): 20.7k (prev.20.6k)
⭐PlayStore Rating: 4.237*
🦓 | Zcash Core Updates
Progress Made ✔️
Librustzcash: released crate stack with fixes: wallet fee recovery, transparent balance bug (min_confirmations = 0), legacy key support in Zallet.
NU6.1: updated NSM PR and addressed review (librustzcash#1879).
FROST and NU7: Finalized FROST keygen details and its interaction with Quantum resilience proposal.
Upcoming ⏩
Release Zallet Alpha
Review Halo2 PRs for ZSAs
Write up the changes to FROST key generation and Quantum resilience.
🌐 | Others
Paul joined the Virginia Blockchain Advisory Council meeting and rebuilt the PGPforCrypto, DC Privacy Summit, and Institute for Economic Freedom websites.
Jason McGee shared a Coinholder-directed grants proposal long discussed with ECC and Alex (Zcash Foundation). ECC fully supports it and will apply once it launches.
Josh met with Sean Bowe for an update on Tachyon (current focus is on recursive proofs with Ragu). ECC’s participation on Tachyon will be limited until 2026 due to our focus on Zallet and network upgrades 6.1 and 7.
ECC has been researching and modeling possible alternative revenue streams, including the addition of basis points in swaps through Zashi.
Other Highlights: