Pretty Good Policy for Zcash has formalized its Washington presence by registering to lobby the federal government, giving the Zcash ecosystem a dedicated advocacy operation focused on financial privacy, developer protections and digital-asset policy. The U.S. House of Representatives’ federal lobbying database now lists PGPZ as a registered organization, while reporting on the filing identifies Executive Director Divij Pandya as its sole registered lobbyist effective October 1. The registration moves Zcash-focused policy work from informal advocacy into the federal lobbying disclosure framework.
PGPZ launched in 2026 as an independent initiative dedicated to Zcash and grew out of the broader Pretty Good Policy for Crypto effort originally established by Electric Coin Company in 2022. In August, Zcash Community Grants approved a $750,000 grant covering a 12-month policy program, including direct lobbying, policymaker education, research, coalition engagement and legal and compliance support. The organization said in late September that its federal lobbying registration had been filed, while its tax-exempt status application remained in progress.
CLARITY and Crypto Tax Bills Enter PGPZ’s Agenda
The lobbying registration identifies three specific legislative priorities: H.R. 3633, the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act; the Aligning Digital Assets with Principles of Taxation Act, or ADAPT Act; and the Digital Asset Tax Certainty Act. The agenda puts market structure and taxation alongside PGPZ’s broader stated interests in financial privacy and protections for software developers.
The CLARITY Act is particularly relevant because recent versions have included protections intended to prevent qualifying non-custodial developers, miners and validators from automatically being treated as financial intermediaries. CryptoCurrencyMagazine examined those provisions when the final Senate compromise expanded developer protections. Those questions have direct relevance for privacy-focused software, where policymakers must distinguish publishing or maintaining code from operating a service that controls customer assets.
The legislation, however, remains unresolved. A September 15 cloture vote on the motion to proceed to H.R. 3633 failed 49-50, leaving the measure stalled rather than finally rejected. The result shifted near-term attention back toward SEC and CFTC rulemaking, as examined after the CLARITY Act’s procedural defeat. PGPZ is therefore entering the lobbying process while the federal market-structure framework remains open to further negotiation.
Privacy and Developer Liability Remain Central
For Zcash, the policy stakes extend beyond whether ZEC falls within one regulatory category or another. The network supports shielded transactions that use zero-knowledge cryptography to conceal transaction information, making financial privacy and the treatment of privacy-preserving software central to its regulatory exposure. PGPZ’s stated role is to explain those technologies to policymakers and advocate for legal frameworks that preserve lawful privacy while addressing regulatory concerns.
Developer liability has already become a broader federal policy question. Cases involving non-custodial privacy software have intensified debate over where responsibility begins when developers publish code but do not directly control customer assets, an issue also visible in the ongoing Samourai Wallet developer-liability debate. PGPZ’s lobbying registration places Zcash directly inside that discussion, but registering to advocate for a position does not mean Congress or regulators have accepted it.
The two tax proposals add another dimension. The Digital Asset Tax Certainty Act was introduced in the House in September, while Sen. Steve Daines introduced the ADAPT Act on September 30 with provisions addressing stablecoins, network fees, staking, mining, lending and other digital-asset transactions. PGPZ’s filing indicates that tax policy will sit alongside privacy and market structure in its federal advocacy rather than being treated as a separate issue.
The measurable development is therefore institutional rather than legislative: Zcash now has a funded advocacy organization registered to lobby the federal government, with a defined budget and identified policy agenda. Whether that presence ultimately changes statutory language, agency guidance or the legal treatment of shielded transactions will depend on future policymaking, not the registration itself.
