The Zcash community is divided over the future of its development fund—the lockbox—after ZEC's recent rally pushed its value above $95 million. At press time, the fund held 63,962 ZEC tokens, valued at approximately $95 million according to ZecStats.
Haseeb Qureshi, managing partner at Dragonfly, proposed winding down the fund after its current rules expire in 2028. In a Friday X post, Qureshi argued the fund has grown large enough to support remaining development work and risks becoming "politicized" as it approaches $100 million. "I'm of the opinion that this should be the final Dev Fund," he said.
The ZEC development fund accrues 0.1875 ZEC per block, representing 12 percent of the total block subsidy under the NU6 upgrade. The balance remains outside active circulation until disbursed through governance.
Matt Huang, founder of Paradigm, countered in a Wednesday X post that the fund plays an important role "in this age of AI cyber capabilities" and during rapid quantum progress.
Both Qureshi and Huang expressed reservations about pure token holder voting for fund control. Qureshi supported a partial model where token holders would elect temporary councils. Huang agreed, proposing a hybrid governance model to avoid "unpredictability that could limit long-term trust as a monetary asset."
Maxime Desalle, an investment analyst at Winklevoss Capital, offered a third view in a Thursday X post, suggesting the Zcash community should "completely get rid" of the development fund to resolve ongoing governance disputes. Desalle previously argued that the fund might compromise Zcash's security and replicate dependencies observed in welfare bureaucracies.
Zcash founder Zooko Wilcox highlighted the Zcash Community Grants Committee's role in a Sept. 1 X post, calling it a primary factor in Zcash's survival and growth. Wilcox later clarified on Sept. 14 that this committee manages 40 percent of the development fund.
