A venture capital investor is emerging as a weighty influence at the foundation governing cryptocurrency Tezos. The vehicle is also beefing up its executive team with a former Vontobel investment banker.
The Zug-based Tezos Foundation is appointing Hubertus Thonhauser as head of its oversight council, effective immediately, according to posts on social media. Thonhauser replaces Ryan Jesperson, who isn't seeking re-election as foundation chairman.
The appointment is one of a host of personnel changes at the Swiss-based cryptocurrency project, which is attempting to hire executives to lessen the involvement of foundation overseers in daily decision-making. Thonhauser will also stand in as a temporary member of top management. Tezos said it intends to hire an executive director, a new role for the foundation.
Weighty Influence
The changes underscore the weighty influence of Thonhauser, a Dubai-based venture capital investor who joined the foundation two years ago following a bitter feud. Tezos also said it is hiring David Fuchs as head of enterprise adoption in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, effective immediately. Fuchs was most recently a digitization manager at Swiss bank Vontobel, focused on blockchain technology.
At board level, Tezos is appointing Alice Lloyd George and Olivier Jaillon as new members. Lloyd George is a private investor and former principal at RRE, a venture capital investment firm. Jaillon is an entrepreneur who owns La Parisienne Assurances, a digital insurer.
Engineer Wanted
Lloyd George and Jaillon are stepping in for Ryan Lackey and Michel Mauny, who are relinquishing council roles. Lackey is a security technology professional who has been the foundation's chief security officer for the past three years. Mauny is an academic with close ties to Inria, France's national research institute for digital sciences.
Tezos said it mandated a recruiter to search for another council member besides Thonhauser, Lloyd George, Jaillon, as well as existing members Alexis Bonte, Marylène Micheloud, and Lars Haussmann. «An additional council member with a strong engineering background will be added in the coming months,» it said.
Costly Scandal
The foundation is cash-rich from Tezos' initial coin offering which drew in a record $232 million in proceeds in 2017. In March, it agreed to pay $25 million to settle a U.S. lawsuit over the ICO.
The foundation, which is run independently of co-founders Arthur and Kathleen Breitman, was mired in one of the biggest scandals in Switzerland's so-called crypto valley over the deployment of the ICO funds. Last January, the foundation reported more than $635 million in assets including cryptocurrencies at its disposal.
