Dragonfly’s Qureshi Advocates Ending Zcash Dev Fund Post-2028
Haseeb Qureshi, managing partner of crypto-focused venture capital firm Dragonfly, proposed winding down Zcash’s development fund after it expires in 2028. He argued that the fund already holds sufficient capital to cover all remaining development work, and that extending it risks politicizing the fund as its value nears $100 million. This statement has sparked wider industry debate over the future of the fund and who should oversee it.
Qureshi’s Proposal and Current Status of the Fund
As of now, the Zcash developer fund holds 63,962 ZEC tokens, worth approximately $95 million according to ZecStats data. Qureshi stated in a Friday post on X that he considers this should be the final development fund cycle. He argued that current resources suffice to complete all planned development work on Zcash, and extending the fund risks politicizing its governance as its value approaches $100 million.
The Zcash development fund accrues 0.1875 ZEC per block, representing 12% of the block subsidy under the NU6 protocol upgrade. These funds are held out of circulation until distributed through governance decisions.
Industry Disagreement on Fund Governance
Beyond the question of winding down the fund, there is wider debate within the crypto community regarding who should control the development funds. Qureshi stated that control should not be shifted towards “pure token holder voting” but supported a partial model whereby token holders elect temporary councils.
Paradigm founder Matt Huang agreed, warning that pure token holder governance might introduce unpredictability that can undermine long-term trust in the asset. He suggested a hybrid governance model involving additional mechanisms.
Winklevoss Capital analyst Maxime Desalle proposed in a Thursday X post completely eliminating the development fund, arguing that doing so would resolve all governance disputes. Earlier, Desalle criticized the fund for potentially harming Zcash’s security and recreating bureaucratic dependencies similar to welfare states.
Zcash Founder’s Perspective and the Fund’s Role
Zcash founder Zooko Wilcox stressed that the Zcash Community Grants Committee is among the main reasons for the project’s growth and survival to date. On September 14, he clarified that this committee manages only 40% of the development fund.
Thus, the fund remains an important component in supporting various development initiatives for Zcash, although its future existence and governance models remain actively debated among the community and industry experts.
Why it matters
The news that Dragonfly’s Haseeb Qureshi has called for winding down the Zcash development fund after 2028 holds considerable importance for the broader crypto industry. Firstly, as the fund’s value nears $100 million, the debate highlights the tension between securing long-term protocol development and avoiding politicization and bureaucratic control in decentralized projects. Secondly, discussions over governance models—from pure token-holder voting to hybrid systems—reflect a wider challenge concerning decentralization and sustainability in crypto projects. Ultimately, decisions about this fund will impact both Zcash’s technical progress and the community’s and market’s trust in the protocol.
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