Tezos, the cryptocurrency project embroiled in controversy after raising a record $232 million last year, has moved towards launching. The step follows an arduous months-long battle over control.
Tezos released a so-called genesis block, or first foundation stone, of its testing network, the Zug-based foundation which governs the technology said in a statement on Saturday. The move means that Tezos' prolific community members, who were instrumental in a governance spat settled earlier this year, can connect and begin validating the network's code.
Arthur and Kathleen Breitman – the Franco-American couple who developed the technology behind the so-called «Tezzie» – urged community members to be «careful with the sharp edges». The Breitmans as well as foundation head Ryan Jesperson thanked backers in a video released on Saturday:
The cryptocurrency's community has a strong influence: users can propose protocol upgrades and if enough others on the network agree, the changes are made automatically. The backers had been a vocal advocate in a months-long dispute between foundation and the Breitmans which had deadlocked the project from last fall until early this year
Community-Driven Project
The so-called betanet, or live testing setting open to Tezos' backers, precedes a wider launch on the «mainnet», the primary network for buying and selling cryptocurrencies, the foundation said.
«The future of Tezos rests in the hands of its community,» the Tezos foundation wrote in a statement. The move confirms that Tezos will be driven by its community of users, something which may eventually displease large crypto investors which took major bets in the project last year.
Class-action Litigation From Disgruntled Investors
The foundation, the couple, and several others including previous foundation head Johann Gevers and Bitcoin Suisse, which chaperoned the initial coin offering last year, still face class-action litigation from disgruntled investors in the U.S.
