The privacy-focused Zcash ecosystem now has a dedicated lobbying presence in Washington. On Oct. 1, a Zcash-focused advocacy group called Pretty Good Policy for Zcash, or PGPZ, became a registered federal lobbying organization, according to a filing under the U.S. Lobbying Disclosure Act. The registration, first reported by crypto.news, lists the group’s work as “Zcash ecosystem development, developer protections, and financial privacy,” with Executive Director Divij Pandya named as the only person expected to lobby on its behalf.
The move gives the privacy coin community a formal seat at a policy table that has, until now, been dominated by much larger digital-asset companies. Coinbase alone spent 1.07 million USD on lobbying in the first quarter of this year around the CLARITY Act and related crypto legislation, showing how much attention market-structure policy is drawing from the industry.
## What PGPZ will actually lobby on
The federal filing names three specific legislative items. The first is H.R. 3633, the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act — the market-structure bill that would create a federal framework for digital commodities and divide regulatory responsibilities between the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
The CLARITY Act has had a turbulent year. The Senate Banking Committee advanced its version of the legislation by a 15-9 vote in May after months of negotiation, but progress stalled in September. On Sept. 15, the Senate voted 49-50 against invoking cloture on the motion to proceed to H.R. 3633, short of the 60 votes required. A motion to reconsider the vote was entered afterward, leaving the bill’s fate uncertain.
The other two priorities are tax bills. The Digital Asset Tax Certainty Act, H.R. 10357, was introduced on Sept. 14 to reform Internal Revenue Code provisions covering digital assets. The House Ways and Means Committee approved the amended measure on Sept. 16 by a 38-5 vote and ordered it favorably reported to the House. Committee materials say the bill addresses mining and staking taxation, reporting rules, and tax treatment intended to bring digital assets closer to existing financial-asset rules.
The second tax proposal, the Aligning Digital Assets with Principles of Taxation Act — known as the ADAPT Act — was introduced by Sen. Steve Daines on Sept. 30. It aims to establish clearer digital-asset tax rules and address areas where blockchain transactions differ from traditional financial activity. PGPZ’s registration does not disclose whether it supports every provision of either bill.
## A 750,000 USD grant funds the first year
PGPZ’s first year of policy work is funded by a 750,000 USD grant from Zcash Community Grants, approved on Aug. 31 after a review of the organization’s one-year operating plan. Paul Bringer, who founded PGPZ and serves on the grants committee, recused himself from the discussion.
The budget allocates 400,000 USD for operating costs, staffing and professional services, 125,000 USD for administrative support through the Financial Privacy Foundation, and 120,000 USD for legal, lobbying, tax, accounting and compliance support. Policy events and workshops receive 25,000 USD, with another 25,000 USD budgeted for travel, conferences and congressional visits. The remainder covers government affairs tools, research, communications and a contingency reserve.
The grant application explicitly bars the money from being used for campaign contributions, partisan election activity, political donations, or promoting the market price of ZEC. The organization says it will focus on conditions affecting the Zcash ecosystem rather than the commercial interests of any single company.
PGPZ is not an official arm of the Zcash Foundation. Its website states that it operates independently and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the foundation. The group emerged in June from Pretty Good Policy for Crypto, a policy initiative originally developed by Electric Coin Co., which held recurring Washington roundtables and organized a congressional briefing on privacy-enhancing technologies in 2023. Brigner has said the goal is to ensure Zcash has “serious, organized, and credible policy engagement in Washington.”
## Why developer protections matter for privacy coins
Developer liability is one of the policy areas PGPZ plans to monitor most closely, alongside anti-money-laundering rules, sanctions, privacy and financial surveillance. The group says it intends to propose amendments or legislative language where it believes rules could affect privacy-preserving technology.
The issue is particularly relevant for Zcash because its software uses privacy technology that can be deployed through noncustodial applications. PGPZ says it wants to support clear rules and safe harbors for developers and maintainers of noncustodial privacy software — a question that has become part of a wider Washington debate over how existing financial laws apply to software creators.
## What happens next
PGPZ’s first three-month plan calls for at least 15 introductory meetings with policymakers, educational material for congressional offices, and at least one briefing or workshop. An Oct. 14 Washington fly-in and Cypherpunk Policy Dinner are already on the calendar, intended to bring ecosystem representatives into meetings with Congress and potentially regulators.
The lobbying push arrives at a pivotal moment for Zcash in the United States. The SEC closed its investigation into the Zcash Foundation without enforcement action in January, following a review that began in 2023. Grayscale then launched the first U.S.-listed spot Zcash ETF in August, bringing a privacy-focused cryptocurrency into a regulated exchange product. Zcash developers are also preparing the NU7 network upgrade, with testnet activation scheduled for Oct. 6 and a mainnet target of Nov. 5, pending a final decision expected later in October.
For everyday users of privacy-preserving crypto, the stakes are straightforward: whether the next wave of U.S. legislation treats financial privacy as a legitimate feature to be regulated — or a liability to be designed out of the technology altogether.
the tax bills are the quiet part of this filing. H.R. 10357 clearing ways and means 38-5 is the kind of margin that actually moves, riding dev protections along there beats staking everything on the senate roll call
riding it on the tax bill is smart but privacy amendments get stripped first when a bill needs votes. keep both tracks alive or lose both
38-5 out of ways and means is the loudest number in this thread. tax tracks actually move when the calendar gets political, the senate roll call was always the long shot
38 to 5 in committee rarely survives a floor calendar crunch. crypto amendments have died with numbers like that, timing beats margins here
750k total vs coinbase dropping 1M every quarter. respect to pgpz, but thats a rounding error in dc
^ the play is keeping privacy on the agenda so zec doesnt become the next tornado cash test case. win or lose the bill
750k is lunch money in dc but named protections for privacy devs in a bill would be worth 100x that. the goal is the precedent, not the vote count
precedent cuts both ways tho. if the privacy language gets negotiated out to pass the bill, zec ends up funding its own disappointment
and thats why the 750k buys presence. even if privacy language dies in markup, pgpz made every staffer on that committee read the words shielded transaction at least once
thats the bet tho. language that gets hollowed out in conference still forces staffers to debate dev protections on the record, no language means no debate at all
worth 100x until the language gets hollowed out in conference. precedent only counts if the protections keep teeth by the final text
750k buys the meetings but not the votes. if the privacy language survives conference without becoming a registration regime in disguise, thats the real scoreboard
rounding error or not, staffer time is the scarce currency in dc. pandya gets meetings that 1.07M of coinbase spending cant buy because hes the only zcash door to knock on
the only zcash door line is underrated. one named lobbyist answering every privacy question a staffer has beats a coinbase booth at every conference
one door beats a booth, agreed, but pandya is also a single point of failure. guy catches the flu during markup week on 3633 and zcash has zero presence in the building
single lobbyist is also the only way to keep messaging consistent. hire five shops and the privacy language gets traded away in committee by accident
Cloture failed 49-50 in September and now they lobby on H.R. 3633 again? Gotta try something I guess
divij pandya listed as the only lobbyist for all of zcash. hope hes got a good coffee budget lmao
one registered lobbyist has taken zcash further than three years of community petitions ever did. showing up to the markup sessions counts for more than headcount in dc
one lobbyist vs coinbase dropping 1.07M a quarter, its not a spending contest its a seat at the table. tornado cash showed what staying home costs
cloture failed 49-50 in september so the house route on H.R. 3633 is the realistic path. smart of pgpz to not stake everything on one senate roll call
49-50 with a reconsider motion parked is not dead, its waiting. if pgpz keeps privacy language alive through house markup on 3633 thats already a win
One lobbyist, 750k, and a cloture vote that failed 49-50. I would take those odds over another three years of watching privacy devs get indicted for writing code.
named developer protections in the CLARITY Act would change the tornado cash calculus entirely. 750k is cheap insurance against the next indictment
750k a year is roughly one coinbase quarter. cheap when the prize is developer protections written into 3633 instead of a defensive legal fund