Outreach Actually Works — And Why Zcash Has It Easier Than Monero

ParrotOS now accepts donations via Monero (check out https://donatemonero.org/project/parrot-os.html), thanks in large part to emails sent by the Monero community. This is awesome! We've proven with just a few emails, certain organizations can be convinced to accept Monero.

Here's the problem: prior to accepting Monero, they only accepted Zcash. This is the same with many other organizations too, with the main reason for this being Zcash's Community Grants program.

With each block reward in Zcash, a significant portion gets taken away from miners, and then allocated to separate funds. This can be read about more below.

Whether or not you agree with this funding structure, the end result is that Zcash is absolutely loaded with money to throw at people to convince them to list them as an option. The fact people don't actually use Zcash doesn't matter—getting tens of thousands in a grant is more than enough to justify listing it and keeping it listed.

What this also means is that Zcash can pay organizations vast amounts of money to NOT accept Monero, and only accept Zcash. While we have no direct evidence of this, https://www.fightforthefuture.org/donate/cryptocurrency/ for example previously listed Monero, and will still happily provide it as a method when contacted directly. But in 2025, they hid the option from their website, instead opting to list a transparent Zcash address instead.

Even Tor is pushing Zcash as an option. While very few donations are actually being made using it, Zcash is still one of only a few currencies listed for donating in this campaign https://internetfreedom.torproject.org/, and actually functions correctly unlike the Monero option, which Tor could easily make work with view keys. Does it have something to do with the $50,000 grant they were given by Zcash? Potentially.

Despite this, we don't see this as a hopeless battle. What it does mean is that Monero needs more outreach. We have thousands of real users that can each reach out to these organizations individually, and request Monero as an option—while donating to those who do start accepting us. It hopefully will give us the leverage of a well-funded organization that can throw money at things, without being a well-funded organization that can throw money at things.