The Swiss foundation which governs Tezos' money is paying millions to settle with disgruntled investors in its record-breaking 2017 initial coin offering.
The Tezos Foundation, which raised $232 million nearly three years ago in what was then the world's largest initial coin offering, is paying $25 million to settle a U.S. lawsuit over the ICO, it said in a statement on Monday. The foundation said it is choosing to settle or the sake of the project, despite believing the lawsuits have not merit and it did nothing wrong.
«Lawsuits are expensive and time-consuming, and it was decided that the one-time financial cost of a settlement was preferable to the distractions and legal costs associated with continuing to fight in the courts,» the foundation, which is run independently of co-founders Arthur and Kathleen Breitman, said.
Skirmish With Founders
The settlement brings to a close one of the biggest scandals in Switzerland's so-called crypto valley: the Breitmans quickly fell out with previous foundation head Johann Gevers over the deployment of the ICO funds. Tezos ramped up its staff including a finance chief and a prominent lawyer following the skirmish.
It is one of the first foundations to submit to a regular corporate audit as a result of the scandal. Last January, the foundation reported more than $635 million in assets including cryptocurrencies at its disposal.
