Zcash Receives $1.2 Million Donation from Winklevoss Twins

Zcash development initiatives at Shielded Labs have received a major funding boost following a donation of 3,221 ZEC from Gemini co-founders Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, reinforcing long-term support for the privacy-focused blockchain.

According to a recent post by Wu Blockchain, the donation is valued at approximately $1.2 million at current prices and will directly fund Shielded Labs’ core protocol initiatives, which include Network Sustainability Mechanism (NSM), Crosslink, and Dynamic Fees, and is geared towards enhancing security, scalability, and overall sustainability for ZEC.

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Shielded Labs Advances Zcash Protocol Development

The Winklevoss twins have been consistent supporters of ZEC and its goal of building private, censorship-resistant digital money. Through Gemini Exchange, they have been instrumental in integrating Zcash and have been “the first major exchange to support shielded withdrawals for Zcash” and later for “Orchard, which is the most advanced privacy system in existence today.” Their latest initiative in Cypherpunk DAT has reinforced their support for privacy-focused finance systems.

Tyler Winklevoss pointed out the importance of the existence of multiple independent teams in the ZEC ecosystem, further commenting on the importance of Shielded Labs in this regard. Cameron Winklevoss echoed the sentiment, commenting on the importance of privacy as part of sound money, with the efforts of Shielded Labs being crucial to the further development of ZEC.

Shielded Labs is a Switzerland-based, independent ZEC supporter organization, whose funding comes in the form of donations from Zcash supporters, rather than through block reward payments or the ZEC Dev Fund. It is the second donation given by the Winklevoss twins, following a donation in 2023, which formed a dedicated team for the Crosslink project.

The organization stated that the new funding will accelerate the progress of the critical work of the protocol, thanking Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss once again for their continued support of the Zcash mission.

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