Grants for builders on Zcash in 2026
Zcash Community Grants funds independent teams building privacy tech, wallets and infrastructure for Zcash. Grants are chosen by an elected five-person committee and paid from the Zcash Dev Fund. Data from our web3 grant tracker, last verified 2026-09-27.
What gets funded on Zcash
Focus (tracker): Zcash ecosystem: privacy tech, wallets, infrastructure. The ticket varies (major grants; about 100K ZEC available through Nov 2028). No stage requirement is listed and no equity is taken.
Format: funded from the Zcash Dev Fund; elected 5-person committee; RFP ideas accepted.
From the official page (zcashcommunitygrants.org, checked 2026-09-30):
- The program funds independent teams entering the Zcash ecosystem to perform major ongoing development, or other work, for the public good of the ecosystem.
- Its wishlist covers wallets, SDKs, core work, interoperability, applications on top of Zcash, ongoing services and education; the page says the list is not exhaustive.
- Open RFPs are listed on the page, and anyone can submit an RFP idea.
- A public dashboard lists the grants and milestones paid.
Zcash grant programs: amounts, stage, type
| Program | Ticket | Stage | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zcash Community GrantsOfficial: zcashcommunitygrants.org | Varies (major grants; ~100K ZEC available through Nov 2028) | Any | Community fund |
Equity, per the tracker: “No” for this program. Terms change, so confirm on the official page before you apply.
Which route fits your team
- Wallet, SDK or infrastructure team — Check the wishlist and the open RFPs, then submit a grant proposal.
- An idea you can’t build yourself — Submit it as an RFP idea.
- Privacy or ZK tech that is not specific to Zcash — A chain-agnostic ZK program fits better: see the next section.
Chain-agnostic options
Ecosystem programs fund work on their own chain. The options below do not depend on the chain you build on, and none of them stops you from applying to the Zcash program above as well.
ZK Prime Capital grants. $5K–$75K, no equity, idea or prototype stage welcome, reply within 5 business days. The same application document you write for Zcash Community Grants is accepted, and there is no exclusivity. If the milestone ships, the fund can continue into a $50K–$250K round, 3–6 months of incubation and a token launch. How the program works.
Privacy rails and proving systems are in scope for ZK Prime on any chain: see ZK infrastructure grants. Also: grants for on-chain AI agents and DeFAI funding.
Public-goods rounds. For open-source and public-goods work, the tracker lists quadratic funding rounds that are not tied to one chain: Gitcoin and Giveth.
Everything in one table. The web3 grants tracker compares all 27 programs by ticket, equity and stage; each has a program guide.
Building on Zcash? Apply to ZK Prime in parallel
Same document, no exclusivity. $5K–$75K non-dilutive grants for on-chain AI agents, DeFAI and ZK infrastructure at idea or prototype stage; reply within 5 business days.
Apply with the same doc ▸Frequently asked questions
How much funding can builders on Zcash get?
Our tracker lists the ticket for Zcash Community Grants as: Varies (major grants; ~100K ZEC available through Nov 2028). Where the ticket varies there is no single fixed amount, so size the request to one milestone. Confirm current amounts on the official page; last verified 2026-09-27.
Do Zcash grant programs take equity?
No. Our tracker lists Zcash Community Grants as non-dilutive: no equity is taken. ZK Prime Capital grants are non-dilutive as well.
Who decides on Zcash Community Grants?
A five-person committee elected by the Zcash community. Our tracker lists the program as funded from the Zcash Dev Fund, with about 100K ZEC available through November 2028, and RFP ideas accepted.
Grants on other chains
Ethereum & L2s · Arbitrum · Optimism · Starknet · Solana · Avalanche · Sui · Aptos · Polkadot · Stellar · Celo · Aleo · Tezos · Stacks · Filecoin · Cosmos · Cardano · all chains
Source: ZK Prime web3 grant tracker, last verified 2026-09-27; official pages checked 2026-09-30. Writing the application: one-page template. Spotted an outdated detail? Open a PR.