Advancing Digital Privacy
The Zcash Foundation is a 501(c)(3) public charity building financial privacy infrastructure for the public good, primarily serving users of the Zcash protocol and blockchain.
Our Mission
To help sustain and improve open financial networks that allow anyone and everyone to protect their own privacy, on their own terms. While our primary focus is the Zcash protocol and blockchain, we also support broader applications of zero-knowledge proofs, as well as other approaches to financial privacy.
Powering Zcash
What We Build
Zebra
Zebra is the Foundation’s independent, consensus-compatible implementation of a Zcash node, currently under development. Zebra can be used to join the Zcash peer-to-peer network, which helps keep Zcash working by validating and broadcasting transactions, and maintaining the Zcash blockchain state in a distributed manner.
FROST
for Zcash
FROST is a Flexible Round-Optimized Schnorr Threshold signature scheme designed to reduce the interaction between participants who jointly own a private signing key and wish to use this private key to sign a message. Recognized by industry leaders including Coinbase, FROST is a proposed IETF standard, on the path to adoption and standardization. ZF FROST is a reference implementation of FROST two-round threshold Schnorr signatures, written in Rust.
Events We Facilitate
We facilitate a variety of events designed to support collaboration, innovation, and education across the Zcash ecosystem.
Zcon
Zcon is the annual conference that focuses on privacy-preserving technologies and the broader Zcash community.
Zcash Dev Summits
Provide developers with opportunities for informal collaboration and networking.
Committed to Transparency
Zcash Foundation Certificate and Accepted Articles
Zcash Foundation Form 1023
Zcash Foundation IRS Non-Profit Determination Letter
Zcash Foundation Bylaws
Bylaws Amendment 1
Bylaws Amendment 2
Bylaws Amendment 3
Bylaws Amendment 4
Zcash Foundation 2024 Audit
Zcash Foundation 2024 Form 990
Zcash Foundation 2023 Audit
Zcash Foundation 2023 Form 990
Zcash Foundation 2022 Audit
Zcash Foundation 2022 Form 990
Zcash Foundation 2021 Audit
Zcash Foundation 2021 Form 990
Zcash Foundation 2020 Audit
Zcash Foundation 2020 Form 990
Zcash Foundation 2019 Audit
Zcash Foundation 2019 Form 990
Zcash Foundation 2018 Audit
Zcash Foundation 2018 Form 990
Zcash Foundation 2017 Form 990
ZIP 1014
W-9
Trademark Donation and License Agreement
A bi-lateral agreement transferring responsibility, via a donation, for trademark registration, protection and enforcement from the Electric Coin Company to the Foundation.
We release quarterly reports that describe our income and expenditure, with a detailed breakdown of our expenses, and a snapshot of the Foundation’s financial position, in terms of liquid assets and liabilities that must be met using those assets. Quarterly reports are published to our blog.
Zcash Foundation Q3 2025 Report
Zcash Foundation Q2 2025 Report
Zcash Foundation Q1 2025 Report
Zcash Foundation Q4 2024 Report
Zcash Foundation Q3 2024 Report
Zcash Foundation Q2 2024 Report
Zcash Foundation Q1 2024 Report
Zcash Foundation Q4 2023 Report
Zcash Foundation Q3 2023 Report
Zcash Foundation Q2 2023 Report
Zcash Foundation Q1 2023 Report
Zcash Foundation Q4 2022 Report
Zcash Foundation Q3 2022 Report
Zcash Foundation Q2 2022 Report
Zcash Foundation Q1 2022 Report
Zcash Foundation Q4 2021 Report
Zcash Foundation Q3 2021 Report
Zcash Foundation Q2 2021 Report
Zcash Foundation Q1 2021 Report
The Zcash Foundation's 2020 State of the Foundation
Zcash Foundation Q2 2020 Report
Zcash Foundation Q1 2020 Report
The State of the Zcash Foundation in 2020
The State of the Zcash Foundation in 2019
Our Team
Alex Bornstein, CAMS, CCAS
Executive Director
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Alex has enjoyed a colorful 25 year career in the governmental and non-profit sectors, beginning with a domestic operations and supply chain focus and then progressing to international non-profit leadership. Alex has managed operations for a large fire district in Oregon, created a supply chain division for an international humanitarian aid organization active in over sixty countries, led operations for an innovative food bank with a state-wide footprint, and grown a youth focused non-profit into an impactful and well-regarded international organization.
Alex has enjoyed a colorful 25 year career in the governmental and non-profit sectors, beginning with a domestic operations and supply chain focus and then progressing to international non-profit leadership. Alex has managed operations for a large fire district in Oregon, created a supply chain division for an international humanitarian aid organization active in over sixty countries, led operations for an innovative food bank with a state-wide footprint, and grown a youth focused non-profit into an impactful and well-regarded international organization.
Danika Delano, MA
Chief Operating Officer
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Team members have said “Danika is the glue that holds ZF together.” As a versatile leader, she seamlessly manages multiple roles from overseeing finances and HR, spearheading grant programs, and ensuring smooth operations and compliance at ZF. One of her most visible contributions is organizing Zcon, ZF’s annual conference, and other ZF events. With a Master’s degree in International Education and over a decade of experience in International Education and nonprofits, Danika brings a wealth of knowledge and passion to her work. Having lived, traveled, and worked in over 40 countries, she is deeply committed to the belief that Zcash is a vital tool for equity and empowerment on a global scale. Danika takes great pride in being an integral part of the ZF community, dedicated to driving positive change around the world.
Alex has enjoyed a colorful 25 year career in the governmental and non-profit sectors, beginning with a domestic operations and supply chain focus and then progressing to international non-profit leadership. Alex has managed operations for a large fire district in Oregon, created a supply chain division for an international humanitarian aid organization active in over sixty countries, led operations for an innovative food bank with a state-wide footprint, and grown a youth focused non-profit into an impactful and well-regarded international organization.
Pili Guerra
Head of Engineering
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Pili has 15 years of experience working in the tech industry as a software developer, solutions engineer, consultant and project manager. She has previously worked at the Tor Project as a Project Manager for the Tor Browser, Community and UX Teams. Before that she was at Red Hat, a leader in the open source world, working as a solution engineer.
Alex has enjoyed a colorful 25 year career in the governmental and non-profit sectors, beginning with a domestic operations and supply chain focus and then progressing to international non-profit leadership. Alex has managed operations for a large fire district in Oregon, created a supply chain division for an international humanitarian aid organization active in over sixty countries, led operations for an innovative food bank with a state-wide footprint, and grown a youth focused non-profit into an impactful and well-regarded international organization.
Elise Hamdon, Ph.D.
Chief Communications Officer
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Elise is dedicated to advancing decentralized cryptocurrency privacy, education, and adoption. Her previous work includes empowering individuals to confidently manage their own security through advanced self-custody solutions and resilient multisig frameworks. As Executive Director of Mass Adoption Alliance, a public charity driving grassroots crypto education, she spearheaded the community-inspired My First Zcash workbook, making financial privacy and decentralization education accessible to learners of all ages.
Alex has enjoyed a colorful 25 year career in the governmental and non-profit sectors, beginning with a domestic operations and supply chain focus and then progressing to international non-profit leadership. Alex has managed operations for a large fire district in Oregon, created a supply chain division for an international humanitarian aid organization active in over sixty countries, led operations for an innovative food bank with a state-wide footprint, and grown a youth focused non-profit into an impactful and well-regarded international organization.
Alfredo Garcia
Rust Systems Engineer
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Alfredo is a self-taught developer with over a decade of experience in the blockchain industry, and a long-standing advocate for open-source software. A committed cypherpunk, he gravitated toward the Zcash community, where he became a key architect and engineer behind the Zcash Foundation’s core backend, Zebra, and a contributor to the evolution of the Zcash protocol.
Alex has enjoyed a colorful 25 year career in the governmental and non-profit sectors, beginning with a domestic operations and supply chain focus and then progressing to international non-profit leadership. Alex has managed operations for a large fire district in Oregon, created a supply chain division for an international humanitarian aid organization active in over sixty countries, led operations for an innovative food bank with a state-wide footprint, and grown a youth focused non-profit into an impactful and well-regarded international organization.
Arya Solhi
Core Engineer & Protocol Designer
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Arya has over three years of development experience with a variety of projects to his credit, including a CTO role for a restaurant contactless-ordering startup and solutions for different-sized companies in PropTech, FinTech, TeleHealth, and other domains. Arya is passionate about performance engineering, and excited for the future of cryptocurrency.
Alex has enjoyed a colorful 25 year career in the governmental and non-profit sectors, beginning with a domestic operations and supply chain focus and then progressing to international non-profit leadership. Alex has managed operations for a large fire district in Oregon, created a supply chain division for an international humanitarian aid organization active in over sixty countries, led operations for an innovative food bank with a state-wide footprint, and grown a youth focused non-profit into an impactful and well-regarded international organization.
Conrado Gouvêa, Ph.D.
Cryptography Engineer & Protocol Designer
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Conrado is a cryptography engineer who carried out research into the efficient software implementation of cryptographic algorithms such as elliptic curves, pairings, and authenticated encryption during his Masters and PhD studies at the University of Campinas. Since then, he has been working for eight years in industry, developing software for cryptographic devices such as tokens and hardware security modules (HSMs).
Alex has enjoyed a colorful 25 year career in the governmental and non-profit sectors, beginning with a domestic operations and supply chain focus and then progressing to international non-profit leadership. Alex has managed operations for a large fire district in Oregon, created a supply chain division for an international humanitarian aid organization active in over sixty countries, led operations for an innovative food bank with a state-wide footprint, and grown a youth focused non-profit into an impactful and well-regarded international organization.
Marek
Cryptography Engineer
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Before joining the Foundation, Marek earned a Master’s degree in Theoretical Computer Science and taught Undergraduate cryptography classes. Marek has also published research in algebraic cryptanalysis.
Alex has enjoyed a colorful 25 year career in the governmental and non-profit sectors, beginning with a domestic operations and supply chain focus and then progressing to international non-profit leadership. Alex has managed operations for a large fire district in Oregon, created a supply chain division for an international humanitarian aid organization active in over sixty countries, led operations for an innovative food bank with a state-wide footprint, and grown a youth focused non-profit into an impactful and well-regarded international organization.
Natalie E
Cryptography Engineer
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Natalie has previously worked on the OTRv4 cryptographic messaging protocol at ThoughtWorks, and has built decentralized democracy enhancing open source tools for the European Commission. Natalie’s primary focus is on FROST, as we work towards making it possible to use threshold signatures with shielded Zcash.
Alex has enjoyed a colorful 25 year career in the governmental and non-profit sectors, beginning with a domestic operations and supply chain focus and then progressing to international non-profit leadership. Alex has managed operations for a large fire district in Oregon, created a supply chain division for an international humanitarian aid organization active in over sixty countries, led operations for an innovative food bank with a state-wide footprint, and grown a youth focused non-profit into an impactful and well-regarded international organization.
Gustavo Valverde
Platform Engineer
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Gustavo has over ten years in information technology with experience in various fields, including information security, internal audit, business continuity, cloud architecture, DevOps, and product management. He has developed business continuity and disaster recovery plans development for financial institutions, built a DevOps culture at several startups, developed automated CI/CD workflows on complex teams, and supported critical infrastructures for SaaS solutions requiring high availability.
Alex has enjoyed a colorful 25 year career in the governmental and non-profit sectors, beginning with a domestic operations and supply chain focus and then progressing to international non-profit leadership. Alex has managed operations for a large fire district in Oregon, created a supply chain division for an international humanitarian aid organization active in over sixty countries, led operations for an innovative food bank with a state-wide footprint, and grown a youth focused non-profit into an impactful and well-regarded international organization.
Deidra M
Operations & Events Coordinator
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Deidra has over twelve years of operations and events management experience in the education and for-profit sectors. Deidra supports the Foundation’s day-to-day operations activities, as well as the expansion of Zcon events worldwide.
Alex has enjoyed a colorful 25 year career in the governmental and non-profit sectors, beginning with a domestic operations and supply chain focus and then progressing to international non-profit leadership. Alex has managed operations for a large fire district in Oregon, created a supply chain division for an international humanitarian aid organization active in over sixty countries, led operations for an innovative food bank with a state-wide footprint, and grown a youth focused non-profit into an impactful and well-regarded international organization.
John Bruhling
Community Support Coordinator
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John has been an avid Zcash community member since 2017 providing support for community issues, participating governance and protocol discussions and building developer relations. Self-described Cypherpunk, he is passionate about supporting open-source public goods and decentralized and local-first alternatives, while making them more accessible to non-technical users. John strives for continued learning and development while maintaining and re-enforcing Zcash community core values.
Alex has enjoyed a colorful 25 year career in the governmental and non-profit sectors, beginning with a domestic operations and supply chain focus and then progressing to international non-profit leadership. Alex has managed operations for a large fire district in Oregon, created a supply chain division for an international humanitarian aid organization active in over sixty countries, led operations for an innovative food bank with a state-wide footprint, and grown a youth focused non-profit into an impactful and well-regarded international organization.
Board of Directors
Marta Belcher
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President and Chair of the Filecoin Foundation as well as the Filecoin Foundation for the Decentralized Web. She is also General Counsel and Head of Policy at Protocol Labs, and special counsel to the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
Alex has enjoyed a colorful 25 year career in the governmental and non-profit sectors, beginning with a domestic operations and supply chain focus and then progressing to international non-profit leadership. Alex has managed operations for a large fire district in Oregon, created a supply chain division for an international humanitarian aid organization active in over sixty countries, led operations for an innovative food bank with a state-wide footprint, and grown a youth focused non-profit into an impactful and well-regarded international organization.
Ted Hoffmann
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(Boggerster on the Forum) is a European citizen fluent in French, German, and English, with nearly a decade of experience in cryptocurrency. He’s particularly passionate about Ethereum and Zcash, valuing open finance and permissionless financial privacy as essential safeguards against authoritarian financial controls. He believes Zcash’s privacy features are critical for fostering a democratic society. Drawing on his extensive knowledge of blockchain ecosystems like Ethereum, Cosmos, Bitcoin, and Zcash, Ted advocates for a community-first approach to advancing Zcash, prioritizing effective communication, streamlined technology, robust onboarding, and a transition to proof-of-stake (PoS).
Alex has enjoyed a colorful 25 year career in the governmental and non-profit sectors, beginning with a domestic operations and supply chain focus and then progressing to international non-profit leadership. Alex has managed operations for a large fire district in Oregon, created a supply chain division for an international humanitarian aid organization active in over sixty countries, led operations for an innovative food bank with a state-wide footprint, and grown a youth focused non-profit into an impactful and well-regarded international organization.
Taylor Hornby
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(Earthrise on the Forum) brings extensive experience to the Zcash ecosystem, having worked at the Electric Coin Company (ECC) during Zcash’s pre-launch, later returning to ECC in 2018 as a security engineer, before leaving in 2022 and becoming the Zcash Ecosystem Security Lead through 2023.
Alex has enjoyed a colorful 25 year career in the governmental and non-profit sectors, beginning with a domestic operations and supply chain focus and then progressing to international non-profit leadership. Alex has managed operations for a large fire district in Oregon, created a supply chain division for an international humanitarian aid organization active in over sixty countries, led operations for an innovative food bank with a state-wide footprint, and grown a youth focused non-profit into an impactful and well-regarded international organization.
Andrew Miller
Board Chair
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(Chair & Treasurer) Assistant professor in the electrical and computer engineering department at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and an associate director of the Initiative for Cryptocurrencies and Contracts.
Alex has enjoyed a colorful 25 year career in the governmental and non-profit sectors, beginning with a domestic operations and supply chain focus and then progressing to international non-profit leadership. Alex has managed operations for a large fire district in Oregon, created a supply chain division for an international humanitarian aid organization active in over sixty countries, led operations for an innovative food bank with a state-wide footprint, and grown a youth focused non-profit into an impactful and well-regarded international organization.
J.W. Verret
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Associate Professor at the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University, where he teaches banking, securities, and corporation law.
Alex has enjoyed a colorful 25 year career in the governmental and non-profit sectors, beginning with a domestic operations and supply chain focus and then progressing to international non-profit leadership. Alex has managed operations for a large fire district in Oregon, created a supply chain division for an international humanitarian aid organization active in over sixty countries, led operations for an innovative food bank with a state-wide footprint, and grown a youth focused non-profit into an impactful and well-regarded international organization.
Alex has enjoyed a colorful 25 year career in the governmental and non-profit sectors, beginning with a domestic operations and supply chain focus and then progressing to international non-profit leadership. Alex has managed operations for a large fire district in Oregon, created a supply chain division for an international humanitarian aid organization active in over sixty countries, led operations for an innovative food bank with a state-wide footprint, and grown a youth focused non-profit into an impactful and well-regarded international organization.