Money20/20: Tezos Founders Ask for More Tme on the Cybercurrency Project

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by Bhushan Akolkar · 3 min read
Money20/20: Tezos Founders Ask for More Tme on the Cybercurrency Project
Photo: Money20/20 / Twitter

After an unfortunate turn of events, Tezos leaders ask for more time on the cybercurrency project.

In an unfortunate turn of events, following an ugly spat between the management, the fate of startup Tezos lies completely undecided and hanging on tenterhooks. Tezos, a Zug-based startup managed to gain a lot of limelight early this year after raising a whopping $232 million through Initial Coin Offering.

The derivates of the Tezos token collapsed like a pack-of-cards last week after the founders Arthur and Kathleen Breitman revealed in a blog post that little work has been done on its project of a new blockchain-based transaction system for digital currencies. Both the founders have openly criticised Johann Gevers, Tezos Foundation President, for gaining control over the project.

While speaking for the first time, at the Money20/20 technology conference in Las Vegas, after the controversy broke out, Kathleen Breitman said: “I mean, it stinks – it stinks. Like, we’re both really embarrassed about the situation, but we trust the process that we put in place and I think it will be resolved in due course.”

The Bremen founders have tried in their capacity to remove Johann Gevers who is said to controlling all the resources at the Tezos Foundation, but Johann has made this clear that he has no plans to leave. However, on Tuesday a spokesperson for the founders told Reuters that they have been notified that that “a majority of the board has asked Johann to be relieved of his operational duties and, to the best of their knowledge, he has been.”

However, the board members of the Tezos Foundation, Johann Gevers and Guido Schmitz-Krummacher told Reuters that Gevers cannot be suspended on an immediate basis without holding a board meeting that requires 30 days’ notice.

The most unfortunate thing out of all this is that a huge investor money lies fixed and even the coins linked to the project “Tezzies” just don’t exist at this point in time. As per Tezos, these coins cannot be issued until the time its underlying technology operates. The earliest possible time for the coins to exist in reality is said to be by February next year that too if the computer network is ready.

Although the Tezos Foundation has a complete control over the ICO funds, the Tezos source-code is still controlled by Breitmans via a Delaware company called Dynamic Ledger Solutions Inc (DLS). The Tezos Foundation is most likely to acquire DLS, but it is not certain when will the acquisition take place.

Authorities and regulators from around the world have been constantly talking about the associated risks and volatile nature of ICOs and how little they do to protect the investor interests. ICOs are said to have adopted an unregulated way of fundraising by giving tokens in exchange of other cryptocurrencies like Bitcoins.

The Tezos saga adds-up the much-required fuel to the notorious and speculative nature of ICO working and will surely turn into taking more stern measures in the near future. The Tezos story is a classic example of how investors should be extra cautious while parking their money in such unregulated ways of fundraising and should just not get swayed in the wave.

Blockchain News, Editor's Choice, News, Token Sales
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