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Gemini founders Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss have called for Zcash to dissolve its community grants committee, arguing that ZEC holders should control development funding decisions.
Their criticism follows a proposal from Zcash co-founder Sean Bowe to stop new payments to the committee. The dispute concerns a treasury Bowe valued at USD 125.3 million using an assumed ZEC price of USD 1,300.
Cameron Winklevoss said in an October 30 post on X that Zcash should rely on coinholder voting rather than its existing grants committee. He argued that stakeholder voting has worked in traditional financial markets for centuries.
"Experimenting in governance is not part of the Zcash mission. Its mission is privacy," Cameron wrote. He also called for the Zcash Community Grants program, known as ZCG, to end.
His brother Tyler raised similar concerns about the committee's spending decisions. He described ZCG as a "slush fund with no accountability," questioning why coinholders cannot vote directly on individual grants. His comments reflected concerns about oversight rather than established findings of financial wrongdoing.
In a separate exchange with developer Vini Barbosa, Tyler compared committee decisions with mining rewards. He argued that miners risk their money to secure the network, while committee members face no comparable financial losses when funded projects fail.
Zcash co-founder Sean Bowe introduced a draft proposal on October 27 to end automatic funding for ZCG. The plan would redirect its 8% share of newly created ZEC to the Network Sustainability Mechanism which supports future mining rewards.
The proposal would leave the committee's existing treasury untouched. ZCG could continue approving grants and meeting commitments using funds it already holds.
According to Bowe's figures, the committee held 91,452.98 ZEC and USD 8.8 million in other assets, with USD 2.4 million in outstanding commitments. He estimated its remaining treasury at USD 125.3 million, although that valuation depends on ZEC trading at USD 1,300.
Bowe argued that the program already holds enough resources to support development without additional automatic payments. The proposal remains a draft and would require a future network upgrade before taking effect.
Not everyone in the Zcash community supports ending the grants program. Developer Vini Barbosa defended the funding structure, arguing that grants help finance projects that benefit the network.
The disagreement follows criticism of an outreach initiative involving adult-industry events. ZCG approved about USD 461,500 for its first nine milestones, while supporters defended the project as a way to introduce private payments to underserved communities.
Meanwhile, Zcash already operates a separate funding program that gives coinholders direct voting rights. That program receives 12% of block rewards, compared with the 8% allocated to ZCG.
In September, ZEC holders approved USD 8.39 million for 17 development projects, including security research and wallet infrastructure.
The next coinholder funding round will accept proposals from October 30 through November 13, with voting scheduled for December.
For now, Zcash has not approved changes to ZCG's funding structure. The existing allocation will continue unless the network adopts new rules through a future upgrade.
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