In the present day, as a way to higher serve the Zcash mission, we’re saying a restructuring of ECC, together with layoffs of valued group members. Going ahead, ECC will focus our time and experience on particular components of the Zcash mission, and assist transition different components to different organizations within the Zcash group.
We at ECC have been making an attempt to do an excessive amount of with too few sources, particularly within the final yr and a half because the bear market started to affect our funds. It has grow to be clear this was limiting our skill to execute on the issues we’re greatest at.
Zcash has grown and altered, and as we speak there are lots of organizations exterior of ECC who’re additionally dedicated to the Zcash mission, lots of them funded by the Zcash Dev Fund, together with the Zcash Neighborhood Grants committee, Zingo Labs, Nighthawk Apps, the Zcash Basis, Zcash Media, the Zcash World Ambassadors program, and lots of different people and organizations. There are additionally the promised contributions to Zcash by QEdit and Shielded Labs and by the Filecoin and Anoma tasks. We’re grateful to those individuals for his or her contributions to the Zcash motion, and by committing ECC to doing fewer issues and doing them nicely, we hope to additional empower them, making Zcash as a broad motion much more resilient and sustainable.
Restructuring ECC was a difficult choice. It required that we lay off 13 staff — about half of our group. Lots of the individuals we let go as we speak have been instrumental in bringing to market groundbreaking applied sciences and concepts that no different group on the earth has been capable of ship. We’re unhappy to half methods with them and can at all times be thankful for the chance we needed to work with these unbelievable people.
Within the coming weeks, ECC will launch a revised roadmap centered on empowering ZEC holders and giving them a voice. This contains:
Creating a superb consumer expertise for proof-of-stake ZEC
A pockets, constructed by and for Zcashers, that’s simple to make use of and accessible for anybody
A mobile-wallet SDK that’s helpful to different Zcash builders
US-based coverage work to make sure ZEC, self-custody, and staking stay viable within the USA
We’ll assist transition possession to the broader group of some capabilities ECC has undertaken up to now.
Assist for zcashd exterior of ECC’s Roadmap
Protocol evaluation for Zcash core protocols exterior of ECC’s roadmap
Alliances and trade assist
World regulatory relations
Administration of digital properties, together with z.money and the Zcash-specific social accounts
Product advertising
Zcash associated PR and media engagement
Importantly, our immediate-term work on fixing third-party pockets efficiency points remains to be our highest precedence in the mean time, and we’re dedicated to releasing zcashd 5.6.0, an up to date lightwalletd, and new cell SDKs for iOS and Android quickly.
As with every transition, this restructuring of group and priorities will take a while to completely settle, and there are another tasks and initiatives which might be nearing completion — such because the relaunch of z.money and a proposal to foster group possession of this and different Zcash digital properties — that we’ll be delivering to the group within the close to time period. We’re nonetheless partaking on vital initiatives such because the Filecoin Basis grants and different actions that may profit the Zcash consumer.
That is arduous. I requested all the ECC group to affix me in my work to serve human freedom. It grew to become our collective mission, and one thing we’ve all fought for day-in and day-out. Whereas we gained’t all have the ability to proceed on this specific path collectively, I’m assured that within the scope of historical past, every one in every of us will look again proudly on what we did collectively for human freedom. I’m grateful for all of the group members to whom we stated goodbye as staff as we speak, and for those that may proceed at ECC. We stay absolutely dedicated to our mission and consider ECC is now in a a lot stronger place to serve the Zcash mission, each as we speak and into the longer term.
I’ll be becoming a member of an ECC-hosted Twitter Areas on Friday, Could twenty sixth, to reply questions from the group. Please regulate @electriccoinco for particulars.
