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His control also extends to brainpower behind the Tezzie: the Breitmans signed a pact to eventually transfer the intellectual property and business ties behind the technology from their Delaware-based firm to the foundation. The only requirement? Tezos needs to be operational for at least three months. In return, the Tezos foundation is required to publish the blockchain protocols underpinning the technology.

Set Own Trap?

The Breitmans, in an effort to mitigate risk for the Tezos foundation, may have inadvertently laid a trap for themselves. The foundation was set up in Zug's crypto valley, in order to avoid too much regulatory scrutiny. The problem? In doing so, they relinquished almost all control of the foundation.

Gevers controls the Tezos millions. He is also at leisure to wait out the Tezos blockchain project before taking control of the project himself – a scenario that is making the rounds in crypto valley.

Disgruntled Ex-Partners

The foundation head is in a peculiar situation: his own digital currency start-up, Monetas, has foundered. More importantly, the way the South African-born Gevers buried the project did little to endear him to the close-knit fintech community. Previous employees and investors accuse him of neglecting Monetas in favor of the more promising Tezos, without disclosing the potential conflict of interest.

«Gevers made lots of promises and kept very few of them,» an ex-Monetas employee and co-investor told finews.com.

«Nothing Unethical»

Reached by finews.com, Gevers said he had always acted with transparency, and  denied a conflict of interest between Monetas and Tezos. «I haven't done anything unethical, either at Monetas or Tezos. The opposite is true,» he said.

Gevers declined to elaborate, and didn't comment on potenial solutions to the feud with the Breitmans. Clearly, the Tezos dispute has taken a toll on the entire cryptocurrency screen. The headlines surrounding the project have drawn attention from global regulators, including Switzerland's Finma.

Phoenix from Ashes?

Mark Branson, who runs the Bern-based regulator, signalled vigilance in an interview earlier this week. Finma has already taken at least one coin scheme out of circulation.

Last week in Zurich, Arthur Breitman didn't give the impression that he will abandon the Tezos project easily. This plays into Gevers' hands: if he can keep control of the foundation, he could be poised to rise from the ashes of the Tezos dispute.