A key architect of the cryptocurrency is «reluctantly» joining a foundation which governs Tezos, for a one-year term.
The Tezos foundation is enlisting the cryptocurrency's co-founder, Arthur Breitman, it said in a statement on Wednesday. Breitman, who together with his wife Kathleen Breitman founded Tezos in 2014, will accept a one-year term on the council which oversees the Swiss-based foundation, effective immediately.
The arrival of Breitman at the council comes nearly one year after Tezos shelled out millions to settle a U.S. lawsuit over its $232 million initial coin offering in 2017. The move brought to a close one of the biggest scandals in Switzerland's so-called crypto valley.
Breitman, in a separate statement on his blog, said he hoped to help reverse an unfavorable view of the foundation from its early days, which had hurt the wider culture within the blockchain ecosystem. «I think I can help change that, which is why, on February 23rd, 2021, I reluctantly accepted a nomination to join the Tezos foundation council,» Breitman wrote.
Shift In Oversight
The foundation has in the last year moved to a non-managerial executive board, replacing the model adopted by its first two presidents, Johann Gevers and Ryan Jesperson, Breitman said. The council is hands-off in the foundation's day-to-day management, but governs its endowment, he noted.
«This is the model I believe in, but a model which is not yet fully understood or appreciated by the broader community, I hope to help communicate that more clearly,» Breitman said. The other Tezos foundation overseers are Hubertus Thonhauser, an investor who chairs the body, Alexis Bonte, Alice Lloyd George, Lars Haussmann, Anil Madhavapeddy, Chris Wright, and Danny Masters.
31st Most Valuable Coin
Last year, the foundation said it was seeking a new council member with a strong engineering background. Before launching Tezos, Breitman was a research engineer for Google X and Waymo and worked as quantitative analyst at Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.
The Tezos coin is the 31st most valuable cryptocurrency by market capitalization, according to tracking website «CoinMarketCap». As a Swiss-registered foundation, Tezos isn't required to disclose its financials, but is cash-rich from the ICO four years ago.
Marylène Micheloud, a retired computer scientist, quietly exited the Tezos foundation last autumn, while Olivier Jaillon, an entrepreneur who owns digital insurer La Parisienne Assurances, left last year due to time constraints.
