Tezos: A Comprehensive Overview of the Blockchain Platform

In 2017, Tezos made headlines for its then record-breaking uncapped ICO which closed at around $230 million within two weeks, according to CoinDesk, among others. However, it didn’t officially launch until September 2018, due to internal conflicts and legal battles (explained in detail below).

History

If there’s anything to know about Tezos, it’s how it found its way into the space.

In 2017, Tezos made headlines for its then record-breaking uncapped ICO which closed at around $230 million within two weeks, according to CoinDesk, among others. However, it didn’t officially launch until September 2018, due to internal conflicts and legal battles (explained in detail below).

Arthur, who studied mathematics, computer science, and physics in France and later moved to the U.S. to study financial mathematics. His wife, Kathleen, is a former employee at Bridgewater Associates, a hedgefund and R3, an enterprise software firm which focuses on distributed database technology.

On its website, Tezos is described to be a distributed, peer-to-peer (P2P) permissionless network, whose system was based on smart contracts, similar to Ethereum’s, but with a slightly more advanced infrastructure: its protocol would have the ability to evolve and implement new innovations over time, without risking a potential hard fork.

The problem with Ethereum, based off Buterin’s 2014 whitepaper, according to Arthur, only further emphasized the need for a system of participatory governance. Bitcoin had its defects, which is why proposing Tezos, a self-amending cryptocurrency, whose name was generated via Arthur’s algorithm that sought to find the names of unclaimed domains pronounceable in English.

While Ethereum was more pliable than Bitcoin, its updates were only disseminated by a core development team which was overseen by Buterin, not a participating, democratic body.

In response, Arthur wrote a pair of whitepapers, under the pseudonym ‘LM Goodman,’ a snide reference to Leah McGrath Goodman, the Newsweek journalist who notoriously misidentified the person behind ‘Satoshi Nakamoto.’ In summary, the whitepapers recognized what Arthur believed to be the flaws of Bitcoin and certain issues that would soon impact Ethereum, which in turn, the digital world would soon face in a new age of “fly-by-night currencies”.

By creating a rival network that had formal provisions for a truely “decentralized administration”, which power and control could be given to a community that required competence and merit.

The best way to describe Tezos is the environment it aims to create. Tezos, according to its website, is a decentralized blockchain that governs itself by establishing a true digital commonwealth. Its digital token, “tez” or “tezzie” (XTZ) is solely based upon token holders receiving a reward for taking part in the proof-of-stake consensus mechanism.

A $230 Million ICO In 3 Days

On July 1, 2017, Tezos’ ICO was heard ‘round the world. The industry debated prior to its launch, that this could be the start to a “new Ethereum”. The initial retail price for 5,000 tezzies was put into place ($0.50/tez). For two weeks, through an early participation program, there was no limit to the quantity of tezzies that individuals could order.

On the close of business on July 13, over 607 million had been reserved for eventual distribution. After the ICO came to a close, the Tezos Foundation collected $232 million in alchemical exchange for a currency that didn’t actually exist...yet.

Gevers immediately tweeted out: “TEZOS RAISES RECORD-BREAKING $200 MILLION IN THREE DAYS...giving it the resources to grow into one of the Big 3 blockchains”.

Which caught the attention of course, with the SEC and those who felt they were entitled to those funds.