Zcash Governance Panel Shoots Down Research on ASIC Resistance

Members of the zcash community have voted not to prioritize ASIC resistance, according to the results of a governance panel led by the Zcash Foundation.

Announced at the Zcon0 conference in Montreal on Thursday, the ballot, which proposed to prioritize ASIC resistance and "Discourag[e] the use of ASIC mining equipment in favor of mining equipment," saw 19 votes in favor, with 45 votes against the proposal.

"I am personally surprised by this outcome, but this is a fairly strong signal of disagreement. My interpretation of this is that we're not going to make any hasty decisions like diverting all of the Zcash Foundation resources to promoting ASIC resistance."

In a separate ballot, the governance panel voted 38-to-26 to research longer-term solutions, such as more "Thermodynamically efficient" consensus algorithms, as well as studies into open-source hardware, according to the results.

In a mining workshop at the conference Tuesday, members of the Zcash Company, the primary entity that maintains zcash code, said it would define a more formal stance on ASICs prior to the Sapling upgrade in October.

Speaking at the conference, Miller said the governance panel, which saw a total of 64 elected individuals voting on changes for the cryptocurrency, is intended to inform the foundation's priorities for the year.

Operating independently of the Zcash Company, the Zcash Foundation is intended to decentralize the decision-making power on the network.

The process included a total of 7 ballots, including a question about transferring ownership of the zcash trademark from the Zcash Company to the Foundation.

The panel also voted to elect Clovyr CEO Amber Baldet and Ian Miers, co-founder of zcash, as new board members of the Foundation.

Disclosure: Rachel-Rose O'Leary participated in the governance panel.