“I hope Zcash resists the dark hand of token voting. Token voting is bad in many ways, and I think it’s worse than Zcash’s current status. “Privacy is exactly the kind of thing that, if left to the average token holder, will erode over time,” Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin wrote in X on November 30.
His message was inserted into a lively discussion within the Zcash ecosystem, with the community analyzing it. Structural changes in government and fiscal models.
According to the vision of Ethereum's co-founders, if we delegate governance decisions to a mechanism where each vote depends on the number of coins owned, Create incentives that are not necessarily favorable to protecting privacy.
Privacy is at the heart of the Zcash protocol and is also a growing story within Ethereum, driven by Vitalik himself.
According to Vitalik, proposals and conflicts under discussion within Zcash
The Zcash community is discussing several proposals aimed at adjusting the way decisions are made and development is financed.
One that stands out is Zcash improvement proposal ZIP-1016. Redefine block reward distribution scheme.
ZIP-1016 suggests Split some of those rewards into two funds.: Those operated with local subsidies (“Community subsidy”) and another one controlled by holders of ZEC (Zcash currency).
In the latter case, 12% of the block reward will be allocated. this is, own ZEC can directly influence the destination of its capital.
The initiative only specifies how funds will be distributed, not how decisions will be made. Instead of setting the final method, leave the decision for a future stage. The community must agree on which governance model to use.
This point is key to understanding Vitalik's warning. If this process ends up adopting token voting (where those with more coins get more decision-making power), the door could be open. A small group prioritizes the project.
This gap is at the heart of the debate, as holder-controlled funds could lead to a “one token, one vote” system.
According to Buterin, this mechanism is Not suitable for projects where privacy is the main objective. In their view, large holders tend to focus on short-term profits, but protecting privacy requires a decision to maintain collateral even if there is no immediate profit.
Zcash is a zero-knowledge proof (ZK, zero knowledge proof), a technology that allows transactions to be verified without revealing sensitive data. To uphold that promise over the long term, Buterin argues that governance should not depend on the economic weight of individuals.
Specifically, ZIP-1016 leaves the discussion open. It is up to the community to decide whether the fund will be managed with token voting, delegates, a hybrid model, or another approach. This process is ongoing, and its results will determine the direction of Zcash's governance.
