Zcash Community Grants (ZCG) proposed redirecting roughly 98,000 ZEC, about $124 million at current prices, away from its own control and toward future mining rewards, a concession aimed at defusing a widening fight over how the privacy coin funds itself. Cointelegraph reported the proposal on October 30, 2026, citing ZCG's own filing.
The offer lands after weeks of pressure from holders and prominent figures who argued the committee had accumulated too much money with too little oversight. ZEC traded at $1,236.22, up 2.85% on the day, as of October 30, 2026.
The math behind the redirect
ZCG controls a treasury of roughly 91,500 ZEC. Under the proposal, the committee would immediately move 36,200 ZEC, about $46 million, into the Network Sustainability Mechanism, Zcash's channel for funding mining and long-term network security. It would keep roughly 55,200 ZEC, about $70 million, to continue paying grants.
The larger figure comes from what ZCG would give up over time. The committee would forgo an estimated 62,000 ZEC, about $78.5 million, in future allocations it was otherwise set to receive. Combined with the immediate transfer, that works out to roughly 98,000 ZEC, or about $124 million, flowing back toward mining rewards rather than grant-making over the life of the arrangement. The plan would stretch the committee's funding horizon from its current 2028 endpoint out toward the 2032 halving.
Zcash co-founder Sean Bowe had earlier floated a sharper version of the same idea: ending ZCG's automatic 8% share of newly issued ZEC while leaving the existing treasury untouched. The compromise splits the difference, trimming future inflows and handing back part of what the committee already holds, but stopping short of cutting ZCG off entirely.
Critics want holder accountability
The concession has not settled the argument. Mert Mumtaz, co-founder and chief executive of Helius, called the proposal "nowhere near good enough," arguing that the treasury was already oversized and that funding decisions should answer directly to ZEC holders rather than to a standing committee.
Gemini co-founder Tyler Winklevoss went after governance itself. He questioned whether the committee should be trusted to oversee roughly $110 million, pointing to conduct such as unfollowing critics on social media as a sign that the people in charge were not fit for the role. The complaint is less about the dollar figure than about who decides and how they are held to account.
That tension is the real story. A $124 million redirect is a large number for a project of Zcash's size, but the louder objection is structural: critics want a direct holder vote on treasury spending, not a negotiated settlement handed down by the group whose budget is in question.
A funding model built for an argument
Zcash has run on some version of a protocol-funded development model since its earliest block-reward schedule, carving out a slice of newly minted ZEC for the people building and maintaining it. That design solved an early problem, paying for open-source work on a privacy protocol with no company behind it, while planting a later one. As the ZEC price climbs, a fixed percentage of issuance turns into a treasury large enough to invite exactly this kind of scrutiny.
The current dispute is what that tradeoff looks like in a bull market. At sub-$100 ZEC, an 8% share of issuance is a modest grant budget. Near $1,236, the same share compounds into tens of millions of dollars sitting under committee control, and holders start asking why they have no direct say over it.
Stakes for ZEC holders
For holders, the near-term question is whether the compromise passes in its current form, gets pushed toward a binding on-chain vote, or stalls while the two camps keep negotiating. Each path changes how much future ZEC issuance flows to grants versus to mining and network security, which in turn affects both the project's development runway and the supply dynamics behind the token.
The price action so far suggests the market is treating the fight as a governance maturation step rather than a crisis. ZEC held its ground on the day the proposal dropped. The outcome worth tracking is not the headline $124 million, but whether Zcash moves spending authority closer to its holders or keeps it inside a committee that a growing share of the community no longer trusts to self-govern.
Overview
ZCG proposed returning about $124 million in ZEC, roughly 98,000 tokens over time, toward mining rewards and network sustainability, including an immediate $46 million transfer, after critics said its treasury had grown too large with too little accountability. Mert Mumtaz called the offer insufficient and Tyler Winklevoss questioned the committee's fitness to manage the funds. ZEC traded at $1,236.22, up 2.85%, as of October 30, 2026. The open question is whether treasury decisions move to a direct holder vote.
