The zcash project has unveiled a new non-profit foundation dedicated to the anonymous cryptocurrency's growth.

The Zcash Foundation will now be endowed with 273,000 zcash, worth more than $13m at press time. As part of the network's rules, 10% of the cryptocurrency's mining rewards are automatically awarded to stakeholders.

As such, Zerocoin Electric Coin Company CEO and project co-founder Zooko Wilcox expects to donate half of his "founders reward" to the entity.

Wilcox told CoinDesk:

One focal point for the organization will be to steer open-source development of the anonymous cryptocurrency, known for its innovative use of zk-SNARKS, a technology that shields senders, receivers and balances of each address, data that is public on most other cryptocurrencies.

Most recently, zcash announced the new stage in the project's technical roadmap.

Another goal will be to "promote a healthy and diverse zcash community," according to the announcement.

The four-person board of directors includes chair and president Andrew Miller, associate director of the Initiative for Cryptocurrencies and Contracts (IC3), and Matthew Green, assistant professor of computer science at Johns Hopkins University.

Wilcox described it as marking a transition in the governance of the cryptocurrency since Zcash Company will no longer be the only entity working on its development.

"This is a shift of power in the zcash ecosystem, because I have no power over the Zcash Foundation," he concluded.

Disclaimer: CoinDesk is a subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which has an ownership stake in Zcash Company.

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