Evaluation snapshot
Request at a glance
- Applicant
- Castle Labs
- Requested
- $17,040
- Status
- Declined
- Review context
- Forum discussion linked1 committee record linked
FPF source evidence
Milestone and disbursement ledger
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Workflow signals
📋 Grant Application👀 Ready For ZCG Review❌ Grant Declined
Latest committee record
Declined4/27/2026
Castle Labs is a three-year-old blockchain research and advisory firm specializing in institutional-grade long-form content, with recognized roles in Arbitrum’s ARDC and its $200M gaming fund, and clients including Mantle, Starknet, and Be…
Data quality and provenanceSource matching, linked-record coverage, and reconciliation diagnostics
Source coverage
Operational context for tracing how this canonical record was assembled.Source stateGitHub + Sheet
GitHub-Sheet match100%
Primary forum1
Supporting forum1
GitHub labels3
Decision notes1
GitHub workflow labels
3 labels captured as structured grant attributesDecision history
1 meeting note linkedDeclined4/27/2026
Castle Labs Research
Declined
Castle Labs is a three-year-old blockchain research and advisory firm specializing in institutional-grade long-form content, with recognized roles in Arbitrum’s ARDC and its $200M gaming fund, and clients including Mantle, Starknet, and Berachain. Their proposed work targets a gap in Zcash adoption: despite maturing tooling and real-world demand for financial privacy, most users lack understanding of ZEC’s technology and recent developments. Requesting $17,040. Artkor: At this stage, several large analytical agencies are already publishing open research on Zcash and its infrastructure on a recurring basis in that context, I don’t see a sufficiently strong need to commission another similar external research piece. Hanh: Especially since we already have articles being written about Zcash I think funding something that is like this would actually have an opposite effect where it would give the impression that we have to fund good stuff about Zcash. It’s like a paid promotion or sponsoring. Therefore, I vote to reject Zerodartz: I also think that while it’s good to have these sorts of articles, we already have quite a lot coming from organic or maybe funded by other parties. I don’t find this grant to possibly have a big enough impact. Decentralistdan: Out of scope for current funding as there is organic research and analysis coming out frequently
Committee notes
Artkor: At this stage, several large analytical agencies are already publishing open research on Zcash and its infrastructure on a recurring basis in that context, I don’t see a sufficiently strong need to commission another similar external research piece.
Hanh: Especially since we already have articles being written about Zcash I think funding something that is like this would actually have an opposite effect where it would give the impression that we have to fund good stuff about Zcash. It’s like a paid promotion or sponsoring. Therefore, I vote to reject
Zerodartz: I also think that while it’s good to have these sorts of articles, we already have quite a lot coming from organic or maybe funded by other parties. I don’t find this grant to possibly have a big enough impact.
Decentralistdan: Out of scope for current funding as there is organic research and analysis coming out frequently
Forum links
1 primary, 1 supportingPrimary forum thread
Open forum threadGrant Application - Castle Labs Research
Hello everyone in the Zcash community! I am submitting a grant application to ZCG on behalf of Castle Labs for research media content on Zcash. Project Summary Castle Labs is a research and advisory firm. We have been pushing for the last 3 years and are slowly establishing ourselves as a r...
source: forum_mirror | topicId: 55348 | fetchedAt: 2026-10-18T07:04:32.461Z | categoryId: 36 | mirrorKind: forum_topic | coverageCapped: false | discoveredFrom: ["github_issue_comment:ZcashCommunityGrants/zcashcommunitygrants#273:comment:4245099801","google_sheet_row:1FQ28rDCyRW0TiNxrm3rgD8ai2KGUsXAjPieQmI1kKKg:1164534734:grant-platform:7aac37a777c86bce8080709f8bee144e67fa06eec9ae6c02a83d8323f7e881ce"] | postStreamCount: 2
Supporting forum reference
Open forum threadGrant Application - Castle Labs Research
Hello everyone in the Zcash community! I am submitting a grant application to ZCG on behalf of Castle Labs for research media content on Zcash. Project Summary Castle Labs is a research and advisory firm. We have been pushing for the last 3 years and are slowly establishing ourselves as a r...
source: forum_mirror | topicId: 55348 | fetchedAt: 2026-10-18T07:04:32.461Z | categoryId: 36 | mirrorKind: forum_topic | coverageCapped: false | discoveredFrom: ["github_issue_comment:ZcashCommunityGrants/zcashcommunitygrants#273:comment:4327333543"] | postStreamCount: 2
Application source evidence
Primary GitHub, Sheet, and other non-forum source records.Github Issue
Open source recordGrant Application - Castle Labs Research
### Terms and Conditions - [x] I agree to the [Grant Agreement](https://9ba4718c-5c73-47c3-a024-4fc4e5278803.usrfiles.com/ugd/9ba471_f81ef4e4b5f040038350270590eb2e42.pdf) terms if funded - [x] I agree to [Provide KYC information](https:/...
repo: zcashcommunitygrants | owner: ZcashCommunityGrants | state: closed | author: imnotanaibro | labels: ["📋 Grant Application","👀 Ready For ZCG Review","❌ Grant Declined"] | number: 273 | closedAt: 2026-04-27T13:25:54Z | commentCount: 7
Github Issue Comment
Open source recordComment on #273: Grant Application - Castle Labs Research
@imnotanaibro: 1. Your total budget amount is $17,040 but your milestones add up to $17,000. These numbers need to be the same. 2. You need to post your grant request to the [Forum](https://forum.zcashcommunity.com) for community feedbac...
repo: zcashcommunitygrants | owner: ZcashCommunityGrants | author: alexgbo | number: 273 | issueUrl: https://github.com/ZcashCommunityGrants/zcashcommunitygrants/issues/273 | commentId: 4244088822 | createdAt: 2026-04-14T13:04:08Z | issueNumber: 273
Github Issue Comment
Open source recordComment on #273: Grant Application - Castle Labs Research
> [@imnotanaibro](https://github.com/imnotanaibro): > > 1. Your total budget amount is $17,040 but your milestones add up to $17,000. These numbers need to be the same. > 2. You need to post your grant request to the [Forum](https://foru...
repo: zcashcommunitygrants | owner: ZcashCommunityGrants | author: imnotanaibro | number: 273 | issueUrl: https://github.com/ZcashCommunityGrants/zcashcommunitygrants/issues/273 | commentId: 4244481247 | createdAt: 2026-04-14T14:01:23Z | issueNumber: 273
Github Issue Comment
Open source recordComment on #273: Grant Application - Castle Labs Research
You should be good to post now.
repo: zcashcommunitygrants | owner: ZcashCommunityGrants | author: alexgbo | number: 273 | issueUrl: https://github.com/ZcashCommunityGrants/zcashcommunitygrants/issues/273 | commentId: 4244512397 | createdAt: 2026-04-14T14:05:44Z | issueNumber: 273
Github Issue Comment
Open source recordComment on #273: Grant Application - Castle Labs Research
> You should be good to post now. Just tried im afraid not yet sir?
repo: zcashcommunitygrants | owner: ZcashCommunityGrants | author: imnotanaibro | number: 273 | issueUrl: https://github.com/ZcashCommunityGrants/zcashcommunitygrants/issues/273 | commentId: 4245041472 | createdAt: 2026-04-14T15:16:07Z | issueNumber: 273
Github Issue Comment
Open source recordComment on #273: Grant Application - Castle Labs Research
You have the correct access level. Maybe refresh and see if that helps?
repo: zcashcommunitygrants | owner: ZcashCommunityGrants | author: alexgbo | number: 273 | issueUrl: https://github.com/ZcashCommunityGrants/zcashcommunitygrants/issues/273 | commentId: 4245055302 | createdAt: 2026-04-14T15:18:08Z | issueNumber: 273
Github Issue Comment
Open source recordComment on #273: Grant Application - Castle Labs Research
> You have the correct access level. Maybe refresh and see if that helps? Logged w another browser, just posted! Thanks Alex https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/t/grant-application-castle-labs-research/55348
repo: zcashcommunitygrants | owner: ZcashCommunityGrants | author: imnotanaibro | number: 273 | issueUrl: https://github.com/ZcashCommunityGrants/zcashcommunitygrants/issues/273 | commentId: 4245099801 | createdAt: 2026-04-14T15:24:22Z | issueNumber: 273
Github Issue Comment
Open source recordComment on #273: Grant Application - Castle Labs Research
https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/t/grant-application-castle-labs-research/55348/2
repo: zcashcommunitygrants | owner: ZcashCommunityGrants | author: alexgbo | number: 273 | issueUrl: https://github.com/ZcashCommunityGrants/zcashcommunitygrants/issues/273 | commentId: 4327333543 | createdAt: 2026-04-27T13:25:54Z | issueNumber: 273
Google Sheet Row
Open source recordCastle Labs Research
Date Submitted: 4/14/2026 | Proposal Title: Castle Labs Research | Applicant(s): Castle Labs | Grant Platform Link: https://github.com/ZcashCommunityGrants/zcashcommunitygrants/issues/273 | Forum Link: https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/t/grant-application-castle-labs-research/55348 | Grant Status: Re
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