Zcash Open Major Grants
The following content was pulled from the official ZOMG Website
Zcash Open Major Grants(ZOMG) is a community-elected grants committee that funds Zcash-related projects in order to bring financial privacy to everyone in the world.
About ZOMG
ZOMG (Zcash Open Major Grants) exists to fund projects that advance the usability, security, privacy, and adoption of Zcash, a privacy-focused cryptocurrency.
Formerly known as the Major Grants Review Committee(MGRC), ZOMG was created by community members of the Zcash cryptocurrency in ZIP 1014, working within the Zcash governance process.
ZOMG’s funds come from the decision in ZIP 1014 to allocate a portion of all newly created Zcash —over a four year period—to the ZOMG.
Grants are chosen by a committee of five members that were elected by the Zcash Community Advisory Panel:
Chris is a partner at Placeholder, a venture firm that invests in blockchain networks and Web3 services, and is co-author of the bestseller, Cryptoassets.
Sarah is the executive director of Open Privacy, which exists to build a world where systems operate with the consent of their users, and which is building the Tor-based, metadata-resistant messaging app Cwtch.
Holmes is a former co-director of the US-based activism organization Fight for the Future, and currently works on the Zcash-based messaging app and marketplace Zbay.
Shawn is a long-time Zcash community member and community manager for the Zcash community forum.
Hudson Jameson is a blockchain enthusiast and developer liaison working at the Ethereum Foundation.
How to apply
Interested in applying for a grant from ZOMG?
If your grant is approved you will have to go through a Know Your Customer (KYC) process and sign legal documentation with the Zcash Foundation prior to receiving any funds.
Applications can be submitted at any time, but they will be reviewed on a rolling basis, approximately once every two weeks.
The larger the requested sum, the more time we may require to evaluate your proposal, and funding will be divided into several milestone-based payouts.
Here is a wishlist of things we want to fund. This list is non-exclusive, but your project should apply directly to Zcash or its ecosystem.
If you are not sure you are ready to submit an application, please feel free to post your idea to the forums in the Grants category to solicit feedback. You can tag @ZOMG on the forums to ask questions.
Steps to apply
First, create an account and submit your application here. This is the most important step, so please be as complete as possible! We need to know what you are doing, why you are doing it, and your experience with this kind of project.
After you submit your application, it will be put into a queue to await moderator approval. Once your application is approved by a grants platform moderator, you will receive an email notification with a public link to your application.
When you receive the notification that your application is public, please post a link to it on the Zcash Community Forum in the “applicants” category. This step is to gather community feedback about your project.
Respond to our questions and to any community feedback in the forum thread. This part of the process is open to the general public, so be ready for some honest feedback, questions, and engagement with Zcash community members!
What to expect
Once you have posted your application to the grants platform and the forum, ZOMG will evaluate it, review community feedback on a rolling basis, and post a preliminary yes or no to continue with the application process, in your forum thread.
If you receive a no, your application will be closed on the grants platform and an explanation will be posted on your forum thread.
If you receive a yes to continue, ZOMG may request improvements to your application and perform additional due diligence. For example, we may ask outside experts to weigh in on technical aspects your project, or we may ask you for more information about your project, background, or experience. You may also be required to add milestones tied to incremental payouts to assure project follow through.
ZOMG will vote during its bi-weekly meetings for a final approval or rejection of your grant. We strive to make this process as fast as possible while maintaining adequate due diligence. Our bi-weekly cadence means your application could be approved or rejected in just a few weeks.
You will be notified on the forums and the grants platform that your grant has been approved or rejected.
For more about the steps we will go through to evaluate your application, you can also read the public documentation of our selection process.
If you’re approved
If you are approved for a grant, congratulations! You will be put in touch with the Zcash Foundation to gather your payment details and complete the required KYC documentation.
Once you are working on your project you will be required to post community updates and milestone achievements as defined in your application.
Once the project is complete we will post a final evaluation on your forum thread. At this point you are free to apply again for additional funding.
Ready to apply?
The next step is to visit the Zcash Grants portal, create an account, and begin your application.
What is the ZOMG looking to fund?
These are some examples of things ZOMG would like to fund. This purpose of this wishlist is not to serve as an exhaustive list of everything that would be good for the Zcash ecosystem, but as a way to encourage ideas for potential applicants. If your idea to improve Zcash doesn’t fit exactly, feel free to surprise us with your proposal!
Wallets
Zcash hardware wallet support
Key-management tools
Physical storage (paper wallets or lightweight hardware) for z-addresses
Shielded wallets for smartphones (e.g. zECC wallet on iOS/Android)
Web wallets
Payment URIs
Easy one-click shielded payments
Wallet API and SDK libraries
React Native SDK and libraries
Network layer privacy solutions for SDKs and libraries
Performance improvements to SDKs and libraries
Easy multi-sig tools for Z-addresses (e.g. an implementation of FROST in user-facing wallets)
Point-of-sale for brick and mortar shops
Core and Security
Solutions to any known privacy or security weakness (e.g. in the wallet app threat model)
Solutions to network layer privacy
Security auditing for core code, protocols, popular libraries, and wallets
ZK rollups for Zcash
Smart contracts
State channels
Performance improvements to core code, protocols, and popular libraries
Layer one scaling improvements
Formal verification
Identify parts of the Zcash codebase that are security-critical and conducive to formal methods for proving correctness of code
Use start-of-the-art formal verification tools to construct computer-checkable proofs of their correctness, with respect to suitable security specifications
Ideas for such components: Sapling circuits (or parts thereof), Bellman cryptographic code (or parts thereof), consensus rules
Interoperability
Atomic swaps
Zcash on Ethereum, wrapped ZEC
Stablecoins on Zcash, ZUSD
Apps
Applications built on top of Zcash network
Ongoing Services
Accurate blockchain explorer
Proving key distribution
Light client servers / infrastructure
Education
Improving “Zcash Protocol Spec” for developers
Videos and tutorials about how to use Zcash securely
User education: t-addresses vs. z-addresses, Zcash vs other tech
Websites with educational resources
Read about the ZOMG selection process HERE
Check out the website https://zcashomg.org/
& forum post https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/t/introducing-zomg/37906