Background
Society is at a turning point. The world is becoming more and more interconnected by the Internet. And while this brings great benefits in access to information, communication, e-commerce, and social media, it also poses the existential risk of the complete loss of privacy as all our actions become monitored and permanently recorded.
Not only would total surveillance be greatly detrimental at a societal level by limiting free speech, dissent, and by giving sophisticated powers such as corporations and governments immense leverage over individuals, but the loss of privacy would prevent many of the things that make us human - our ability to send silly messages to our loved ones, to sing in the shower like no one is watching, to make mistakes, to be with whom we choose, to be in charge of our bodies, to question what is popular, to read what we want to read and watch what we want to watch, to close our curtains on date night or movie night or any night.
The growth of the Internet has led to the proliferation of cryptocurrencies - new ways to store and send money to anyone, anywhere, at any time, without intermediares. Similar to how the Internet itself contributed to the freedom of information, cryptocurrencies offer ways to increase our economic freedom and opportunity, overcoming traditional slow and costly ways of using money or participating in finance that rely on rent-seeking or gatekeeping intermediaries. But again, just like the Internet, many cryptocurrencies contribute to the ongoing erosion of privacy as their open-ledger technologies, called blockchains, record every user's complete financial data for all the world to see.
Fortunately, a recent mathematical breakthrough in a type of cryptography called Zero Knowledge Proofs is giving technologists and privacy advocates a way to fight against the tide of surveillance while maintaining the power and convenience of cryptocurrencies. Zcash, the first ever implementation of Zero Knowledge Proofs, is a cryptocurrency that, much like its famous predecessor Bitcoin, can be used by anyone around the world to store and send money. However, unlike Bitcoin, Zcash uses Zero Knowledge Proofs to allow end-to-end encrypted transactions where only the sender and receiver can view transaction details.
Started in 2016, Zcash is supported by a large group of engineers, cryptographers, entrepreneurs, and privacy advocates who are all dedicated to making Zcash a truly global currency used by billions of people.
Zcash Media
In 2021, a team of scientists and filmmakers formed what would later becoming known as Zcash Media to use the power of visual storytelling to help Zcash on its way to becoming a household name. Led by award-winning indie film production house 37 Laines and with funding from the Zcash Community Grants program, Zcash Media embarked to collect over 30 hours of cinema-quality interviews from all across the Zcash ecosystem including Zooko Wilcox, Amber Baldet, Vitalik Buterin, Michelle Lai, Peter van Valkenbergh, and many, many more (including the mysterious John Dobbertin who helped start Zcash!). Zcash Media documented their filming process in a February 2022 transparency report.
Zcash Media's intial launch phase began by releasing a trailer highlighting what Zcash Media hopes to build: a YouTube channel that serves as a one-stop shop for introducing the Zcash ecosystem to beginners and crypto pros alike. We aim to discuss important core principles of Zcash like privacy, decentralization, techno-optimism, origin stories, and more using professional interviews and animation.
Trailer
Also, during this launch phase Zcash Media put out daily posts on various social media channels such as Facebook, Instagram, Telegram, and Twitter to learn how we could best reach audiences.
On April 22, 2022, Zcash Media launched their first full video exploring the origin and motivation for Zcash - titled Future Money: What is Zcash?
Finally, on April 29, 2022, Zcash Media released our second video, which answers the final question of Zcash's historic and secretive Ceremony - who is John Dobbertin? In it, we learn that famed NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden participated in the initial 2016 Ceremony to help launch Zcash securely and why the elaborate Ceremony process is no longer needed thanks to Electric Coin Company engineer Sean Bowe's discovery of the Halo Zero Knowledge Proof technology.
Zcash Media documented the success of their launch plan in their May 2022 Analytics Report, as well as a Zcash forum post with a retrospective of the launch.
Zcash Media's Future Plans
We currently are working with the Zcash Community to seek new funding to continue sculpting the 30 hrs. of raw footage we collected into a diverse of set videos to fill out our YouTube channel and help increase the adoption of Zcash.
Why Free2z?
Free2z is a powerful tool for direct crowdfunding. Leveraging the Zcash blockchain, it allows direct funding of pages for negligible fees while not collecting personal information from either creator or donors. As the creators of Free2z mentioned in their Zcon3 talk there are numerous improvements in crowdfunding that Free2z offers compared to traditional fundraising sites like GoFundMe, but perhaps most of all, it provides a unique opportunity to experience the magic of sending Zcash transactions that are powered by Zero Knowledge Proofs. We at Zcash Media are excited to use Free2z to fuel our efforts in aiding Zcash adoption through the power of modern media. Any funding received here will be used to support the production of more Zcash Media educational materials, in particular, donations will support the ideation and writing of new videos and continued maintenance of our Twitter page where we continue to try and grow our audience.
More information on Zcash Media
Two of the creators of Zcash Media recently gave a talk at Zcon3 explaining their belief in the importance of storytelling in promoting empowering technologies like Zcash. They discuss how storytelling has been used throughout history, why it is needed now to promote Zcash, and some of their ideas going forward about how to continue bringing Zcash to more users.