Electric Coin Company expressed:  It has become clear that the best way for ECC to contribute to the Zcash ZEC community over the next three years is to release an official ECC wallet on top of a highly interoperable Zcash protocol that leverages proof-of-stake consensus.

We embarked on sentiment gathering, market research and economic modelling to better understand the possibilities for Zcash Shielded Assets (ZSAs) and the tradeoffs of different approaches. Here is a summary of our findings:

The issuer model, interoperability model, programmable model.

An issuer model where a centralized or decentralized intermediary is needed to issue and redeem the asset. For instance, an intermediary will receive Bitcoin from a user to issue a shielded “wrapped” zBTC in return. Similarly, they will redeem native BTC to users in exchange for zBTC.

The interoperability model where assets will be able to flow seamlessly between chains while tokens are minted and redeemed without the need for a centralized issuer.

The programmable model where anyone will be able to deploy smart contracts on the Zcash chain to create whichever asset-type they wish.

Further research findings were:  The Zcash community is interested in supporting ZSAs.  There were regulatory challenges to USD-based stable coin issuance, both in terms of requirements and issuer’s  desire to support shielded versions of their assets.

Some issuers have expressed interest in exploring ZSAs, but interest is either still tepid or not as much of a priority as other activities.  Time is needed by the Zcash community to review and consider the economic implications, such as those shown in the GMU findings, as there could be significant impacts to ZEC holders.

Community Reaction:  Great roadmap.  This all sounds right to me. Building an official ECC Zcash wallet is a very good idea. Looking forward to trying it out. Will there be a desktop and mobile wallet? Or mobile only?   As of now, we are focused on mobile. As new features are needed (ex. staking / delegated staking, how wallet integration, etc.), we’ll explore what makes most sense.

I really appreciate your focusing on PoS and interoperability (IBC). Maybe ZSAs are not really needed in this permissionless vision of interconnected blockchains (Cosmos) and private capital (ZCash).

What other assets will the wallet hold if any?

Zcash’s self-funding model provides powerful incentives by building a positive reinforcing feedback loop where funds fuel development and innovation, that then increase the amount of money available to attract more talent and fund increasing amounts of development and innovation.

Why would ZSAs be developed by a 3rd party via a grant, not by core devs from ECC? Thanks!

This is amazing! ZSAs + another incredibly talented team working on Zcash core protocol development.  If funded, this will be made possible by a grant made available by ZEC holders (not VCs) through its creation of the Zcash development fund.