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Meanwhile, several Tezos investors – or contributors, depending on whom you believe – have lodged class-action suits in the U.S. against Tezos, its foundation, and others for violating securities law in its coin offering. Some investors object to the idea that they poured money into the ICO without getting any tokens, or «Tezzies», in return.

Seeking Exit?

Gevers said those funds were frozen by its bank in October, which is when the backroom battle burst into public view. The foundation recently regained influence over its accounts, and is able to pay Tezos' developers, contractors, and engineers, he said.

The remarks are his first public comments save for an appearance ten days ago at a private cryptocurrency conference in the Swiss alps (click here to read finews.com's coverage of the event), where he was spotted conferring with Arthur Breitman. His appearance did little to sooth the angry Tezos community, as finews.com reported.

Now, Gevers seems to be looking for the exit: he has hired an undisclosed executive to help out at the foundation until he can hire a chief executive, and says he will step down  – eventually, when Tezos is «on track». He didn't specify what he meant.

«Old, Inflexible, Stupid»

The foundation has hired white-collar firm Baer & Karrer in Switzerland and Davis Polk in the U.S. (both are respected securities law firms), and it looking for an auditor after local examiner Lufida, an eight-person firm, relinquished the job last month.

Gevers has been given a Wednesday deadline to fill a vacancy in the foundation's oversight after his vice-president, Guido Schmitz-Krummenacher, threw in the towel last month. A German lawyer who sits on more than a dozen such boards, Schmitz-Krummacher recently slammed the Breitmans for what he termed unfounded accusations against Gevers, in an interview with «Reuters».

The foundation's law firm, crypto specialists MME, blasted «old, inflexible and stupid» Swiss foundation law for the spat – the same foundation law the crypto-specialized firm used to set up scores of similar Swiss foundations including Bancor and Ethereum.